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G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, New York and London 



Iberoee of tbe IRattons 

EDITED BY 

Evelyn Bbbott, /ID.B. 

FELLOW OF BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD 



FACTA 0UCI8 VIVENT OP6R08AQUE 
GLORIA RERUM. — OVID, IN LIVIAM 266. 
THE HERO'S DEEDS AND HARD-WON 
FAME SHALL LIVE. 



DANIEL O'CONNELL 




DANIEL O'CONNELL. 

FROM THE PAINTING BY DAVID WILKIE. 



DANIEL O'CONNELL 

AND THE REVIVAL OF NATIONAL LIFE 
IN IRELAND 



ROBERT DUNLOP, M.A. 

AUTHOR OF "a LIFE OF HENRY GRATTAN," ETC. 



G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

NEW YORK LONDON 

27 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET 24 BEDFORD STREET, STRAND 

g^e fmickerbotker |P«ss 
1900 



64449 



Lit>n«jr/ of Con^ 

•OCT 22 1900 

Copyright entry 
K .XT^V-^^^Va • • ■ 

SECOND COPY. 

mom DIVISION, 
O CT 25 1900 






Copyright, igoo 

BY 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 



tCbe ftnfcfterboclter Pvees, t\6vo l^orfi 



PREFACE. 



THIS little volume is not offered to the public as 
a mere verbal expansion of the article which I 
contributed a few years ago to the Dictionary 
of National Bio grapJiy, The conditions of its pro- 
duction have allowed of freer treatment than was 
possible or even desirable in the former instance. 
At the same time I have endeavoured to maintain 
the attitude of impartiality which. I trust, marked 
the earlier essay. My view throughout has re- 
mained unchanged. The ashes of the controversy 
that raged about O'Connell during his lifetime are 
still hot in the path of his biographer. Perhaps 
even yet the time has hardly come when it is pos- 
sible to judge him in his true proportions. Years of 
study devoted to Irish history and a warm attach- 
ment to the land of my literary adoption will, I 
hope, plead for me with those who regard it as a 
presumption for anyone save an Irishman to ofTer 
an opinion on a subject peculiarly Irish. Fortunate 
in possessing dear friends in both camps, and know- 
ing that however divided they are in politics they 
are united in a common love of their common 
country, I shall account myself doubly fortunate if 
the sketch I have here attempted of perhaps the 



IV 



Preface. 



most illustrious of their countrymen tends in any 
— even the slightest — degree to lessen the grounds 
of difference and to strengthen the bonds of union 
between them. Having no other cause to serve but 
that of truth, I have concealed nothing and set 
nothing down in malice. ForO'Connell my admira- 
tion has increased the more attentively I have 
studied his life ; and though I am well aware that 
the result has fallen far short of the modest ideal I 
set before me, I have tried to console myself with 
the reflection of a generous critic, who was wont to 
remark that, '' nullum esse librum tam malum ut non 
aliqua parte prodesset." 

R. D. 

October 28, 1899. 




^^^a.^ 



O'CONNELL COAT-OF-ARMS. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

EARLY LIFE AND MARRIAGE (1775-1802) . . I 

Introduction — Birthplace — "A gentle lover of Nature" — 
Parentage and birth — Early Impressions — School-days at 
Cove, . St. Omer, and Douay — French Revolution — Enters 
Lincoln's Inn — His studies — Returns to Ireland — Historical 
retrospect — Is called to the Bar — Rebellion of '98 — Illness 
— Joins the Munster circuit — Anecdote — Professional Suc- 
cess — Irish judges — Attitude towards the Bench — "Coun- 
sellor O'Connell " — Opposition to the Union — First political 
speech — Marriage — Domestic felicity. 

CHAPTER II. 

IRELAND AFTER THE UNION (1803-1812) . . 23 

The Union — Emmet's rebellion — O'Connell's mission — 
Catholic Agitation revived — Catholic petition rejected — 
John Keogh and the policy of " dignified silence " — O'Con- 
nell ousts Keogh from the leadership of the Catholics — Grat- 
tan's mistake — Origin of the veto controversy — Agitation in 
Dublin against the Union — Causes of the same — O'Connell 
advocates the repeal of the Union — Collapse of the Agitation 
— Catholic Committee and the Convention Act — O'Connell's 
proposals for evading the Act — Government interferes — 
The Committee scores a victory — O'Connell's activity — 
Catholic Committee reconstituted — Trial and acquittal of 
Dr. Sheridan — Catholic Committee dispersed — Catholic 
Board established. 



vi Contents, 



CHAPTER III. 

PAGE 

PARLIAMENT AND THE CATHOLIC CLAIMS (l8l2- 

i3i3) 42 

Assassination of Perceval — Catholic hopes disappointed — 
" Witchery resolutions" — House of Commons pledges itself 
to revise the penal laws — O'Connell preaches perseverance 
— " A nation of slaves " — General election — Catholic indif- 
ference — Apprehensions of the Protestants — House of Com- 
mons reaffirms its resolution — Catholic Bill introduced — 
The " Canning clauses " — Denounced by O'Connell and 
the Catholic bishops — Bill withdrawn — Schism in the 
Board — Indignation against O'Connell — His remarkable 
speech. 

CHAPTER IV. 

IN DEFENCE OF THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS (1813) . 59 

The Irish Catholic Press — A libel action — Prosecution of 
John Magee — The Attorney-General, William Saurin — 
O'Connell defends Magee — His speech — Extraordinary 
sensation produced by it — A verdict of guilty — A scene in 
Court — Magee disowns O'Connell — Judgment — O'Connell's 
distress — Public testimonial to him. 



CHAPTER V. 

DUELS AND DISAPPOINTMENTS (1814-1820) 

Quarantotti's rescript — O'Connell denies the temporal au- 
thority of the Pope — The Securities — Refusal of Grattan 
to advocate unqualified emancipation — Catholic Board sup- 
pressed — D'Esterre challenges O'Connell — D'Esterre's 
death — O'Connell's remorse — His vow — ' ' Affair of honour " 
with Peel — O'Connell apologises — General despondency — 
A Catholic Association started — "Humble remonstrance" 
to the Pope — Famine and pestilence — Question of parlia- 
mentary reform — Grattan advocates the Catholic claims for 
the last time — His death. 



Contents. vii 



CHAPTER VI. 

PAGE 

THE king's visit (182I-1822) . . . . 107 

Difficulty of finding a successor to Grattan — A lost session 

— O'Connell on parliamentary reform — Controversy with 
Shell — House of Commons agrees to consider the Catholic 
claims — Plunket's bills — Denounced by O'Connell — Re- 
jected by the Lords — George IV. visits Ireland — Universal 
joy — Magnificent reception — Disappointment — Viceroyalty 
of the Marquis of Wellesley — A "sandwich" system — Saurin 
removed — Question of " Domestic nomination " — Recrudes- 
cence of agrarian crime — O'Connell's letters to the Marquis 
of Wellesley — The Viceroy insulted — " Bottle and Battle " 
— O'Connell preaches toleration — A society for the protec- 
tion of Catholic life and property. 

CHAPTER VII. 

FOUNDATION OF THE CATHOLIC ASSOCIATION 1823- 

1824) 130 

Meeting in O'Dempsey's tavern — The necessity of an asso- 
ciation for the protection of Catholic life and property — 
Catholic Association founded — Its small beginnings — 
Danger of a collapse — Proposals for extending its influence 

— Money wanted — O'Connell's penny-a-month plan for 
liberating Ireland — The heart of the nation touched — 
Catholic Association organised — Effect on the country. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE ATTACK ON THE CATHOLIC ASSOCIATION (1824- 

1825) 144 

Rapid progress of the Association — Government becomes 
alarmed — O'Connell and Sir Harcourt Lees prosecuted for 
seditious language — Failure of the prosecution — O'Connell 
disclaims physical force — Government resolves to suppress 
the Association — A deputation to Parliament — Association 
suppressed — House of Commons resolves to consider the 
Catholic claims — Parliamentary committees to inquire into 



vIII Contents. 



PAGE 

the state of Ireland — O'Connell examined — " Feasted and 
flattered " — Assists in drafting a Catholic Relief Bill — The 
" Wings " — " Honest Jack Lawless " — Bill rejected by the 
Lords — O'Connell returns to Ireland — Catholic Association 
reorganised. 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE AWAKENING OF THE NATION (1825-1828) . 164 

O'Connell's popularity — He inherits Darrynane — Re- 
nounces the Wings' policy — Controversy with Dr. Doyle — 
General Election — Contest in County Waterford— Revolt of 
the forty-shilling freeholders — Defeat of the Beresfords — 
Retaliatory measures— Order of Liberators established — 
Effect on the Catholic peasantry — House of Commons re- 
jects the Catholic claims — O'Connell broaches the Repeal 
of the Union — Canning becomes Prime Minister — O'Connell 
demands " a change of system " — Death of Canning — Ad- 
ministration of the Duke of Wellington — A million and a 
half of petitioners — Extension of the Catholic Association — 
Brunswick clubs started. 

CHAPTER X. 

EMANCIPATION (1828-1829) 197 

A by-election in County Clare— The Association determines 
to contest the constituency — Difficulty of finding a candi- 
date — O'Connell persuaded to stand— Publishes his address 
to the electors — Intense excitement — Scenes at Ennis — 
O'Connell's victory — Attempt to extend the Catholic propa- 
ganda into Ulster — Failure of the experiment — Critical 
state of affairs — Anglesey advises concession — Ministerial 
difficulties — Anglesey recalled — Catholic Association dis- 
solved — Parliament concedes Catholic Emancipation — Situ- 
ation reviewed — National testimonial to O'Connell — He 
declines to take the oath— A new writ issued— O'Connell 
re-elected M.P. for County Clare — Emancipation deprived 
of its natural effect— Doneraile " conspiracy " and trial — 
O'Connell appeals for Protestant co-operation. 



Contents. ix 



CHAPTER XI. 

PAGE 

PARLIAMENTARY REFORM AND TITHES (1830-1832) . 238 

O'Connell takes his seat in the House of Commons — Starts 
a Society for promoting the repeal of the Union — Society 
suppressed — Advises a run on the Bank of Ireland — Cen- 
sured in Parliament — Death of George IV. — General elec- 
tion — O'Connell returned for County Waterford — Letters 
to the Irish People — Repeal movement spreads — O'Con- 
nell's activity — Repeal breakfasts — Marquis of Anglesey 
determines to suppress the agitation — O'Connell arrested — 
Manifestations of a dangerous feeling in the metropolis — 
Collapse of the prosecution — Reform an indispensable step 
toward Repeal — The tithe question — Dr. Doyle advocates 
a poor-law for Ireland — " Massacre " at Newtownbarry — 
Dr. Doyle on the situation — Attempt to " quieten " O'Con- 
nell — Promise of a " change of system " — Ireland sinking 
into decrepitude — O'Connell abandons poor-law relief as a 
panacea for Irish grievances. 



CHAPTER XII. 

WHIGS AND COERCION (1832-1835) . . . 266 

Abolition of tithes demanded — General election — Repeal 
victories — O'Connell returned for Dublin — Agrarian out- 
rages — O'Connell advises exceptional measures for their 
repression — Meeting of the first reformed Parliament — A 
" brutal and bloody " speech — Coercion — O'Connell pleads 
for a full inquiry — His indifference to personal attacks — 
Offers to submit to banishment — Coercion Act passed — A 
policy of " kicks and kindness " — Situation improves — 
Whigs to be maintained in office — O'Connell's policy disap- 
proved of in Ireland — His hand forced by Feargus O'Con- 
nor — Despondency — Moves the repeal of the Union — Good 
results of the debate — Agitation suspended — O'Connell 
deceived — Reconstruction of administration under Lord 
Melbourne — General election. 



X Contents. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

PAGE 

IRELAND UNDER THOMAS DRUMMOND (1835-1840) . 296 

Alliance with the Whigs — Lichfield House Compact — 
O'Connell declines office — Thomas Drummond — Conspiracy 
to drive O'Connell out of public life — A costly election pe- 
tition — Challenged by Alvanley and Disraeli — The Raphael 
calumny — Attacked by the Times — Expulsion from Brooks's 
demanded — Death of Mrs. O'Connell — Whig legislation — 
Accession of Queen Victoria — The Spottisvvoode "con- 
spiracy " — O'Connell reprimanded by the Speaker — Refuses 
to retract — Loss of popularity — Declines the Mastership of 
the Rolls — Retires to Mount Melleray — Failure of the 
" Precursor " experiment — Mental depression — No hope for 
Ireland but Repeal. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

REPEAL AGITATION (1840-1843) .... 320 

Repeal Association founded — Slow progress — Circle of 
agitation widens — O'Connell hopeful — Repeal meetings — 
General apathy — The Association at work — " Keep mov- 
ing " — " O'Connell's insult to the North " — Is elected Lord 
Mayor of Dublin — His conduct as Mayor — Preparations 
for " getting up steam" — Repeal Inspectors appointed — 
Repeal debate in the Dublin Corporation — Extraordinary 
effect — Rapid development of the agitation — Father 
Mathew and the Temperance movement — The "Young 
Ireland " party — " Monster " meetings — O'Connell's perse- 
verance rewarded — Government meditates an attack — Meet- 
ing at Tara — Its lesson. 

CHAPTER XV. 

COLLAPSE OF THE REPEAL AGITATION (1843-1847) . 35 I 

Meeting at Clontarf proclaimed — O'Connell's moral courage 
— He and his associates arrested — Trial and conviction — 
O'Connell commands obedience to the law — Judgment — 



Contents. xi 



" In jail for Ireland " — Judgment reversed by the Lords — 
Federalism versus Repeal — O'Connell's views on the sub- 
ject — Denounced by the Young Ireland party — The Devon 
Commission — Attacked by the Times — The Great Famine 
— Coercion no remedy — Fresh alliance with the Whigs — 
Rupture between O'Connell and the Young Ireland party — 
A last plea for Ireland — Death — Concluding remarks. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



DANIEL O CONNELL 



PAGE 

Frontispiece 



[From the painting by David Wilkie.J 
O'CONNELL ARMS ....... iv 

CARHEN, CAHIRCIVEEN ...... 2 

COURT HOUSE, TRALEE ..... 14 

BANK OF IRELAND, DUBLIN. (oLD PARLIAMENT 

house) 24 

HENRY GRATTAN ....... 28 

[From an engraving by Godley in the British 
Museum.] 

DANIEL O'CONNELL, M.P. . .... 2)^ 

[From a painting by Bernard Mulrenin, R.H.A., 
in the National Portrait Gallery.] 

SIR ROBERT PEEL 54 

[From a painting by John Linnell, in the National 
Portrait Gallery.] 

FOUR COURTS, DUBI-IN ...... 64 

KILMAINHAM JAIL ...... 78 

LISMORE CASTLE, COUNTY WATERFORD . . 90 

RICHARD LALOR SHEIL ..... 96 

LORD PLUNKET ....... I08 



xiv Ilhistrations. 



PAGE 

GEORGE IV . , . , . . . .112 

[From a painting by Sir Thomas Lawrence, 
P.R.A., in the National Portrait Gallery.] 

king's bridge, DUBLIN . . . . . Il6 

SACKVILLE street, DUBLIN ..... 13O 
[From Bartlett's Ireland.^^ 

BISHOP DOYLE ....... 142 

[From a print in the British Museum.] 

OLD HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT, WESTMINSTER . . I54 

[From a collection of London engravings in the 
Library of British Museum.] 

MEDAL STRUCK FOR O'CONNELL BY MONOP . . 163 

DARRYNANE HOUSE, COUNTY KERRY . . . 166 

O'CONNELL, FITZPATRICK, AND CONWAY IN THE 

OFFICE OF THE Evening Post . . . 200 

[From the painting by Haverty in the National 
Portrait Gallery, Dublin.] 

TREATY STONE, LIMERICK ..... 2o6 

STATUE OF o'CONNELL, CITY HALL, DUBLIN . 224 

EXTRAORDINARY ANIMAL ..... 268 
[From a print in the British Museum.] 

THOMAS DRUMMOND ...... 300 

[From a print in the British Museum,] 

DARRYNANE ABBEY, COUNTY KERRY . . . 308 

UPPER LAKE, KILLARNEY ..... 324 

MANSION HOUSE, DUBLIN ..... 334 

FATHER MATHEW 340 

THOMAS DAVIS 342 

[From Dufify's Li/e of Thomas Davis. '\ 

TARA HILL . . • 35© 

[From Petrie's Antiquities of Tar a Iliil.^ 



Illusti'ations. 



XV 



TWO GREAT CHIEFTAINS 

[From a print in the British Museum.] 

THE NAUGHTY BOY .... 

[From a print in the British Museum.] 

DANIEL O'CONNELL .... 

[From the painting by T. Carrick.] 

o'CONNELL MONUMENT, GLASNEVIN 



PAGE 
366 

376 




DANIEL O'CONNELL 



CHAPTER I. 

EARLY LIFE AND MARRIAGE. 



1775-1802. 

REVOLUTION has succeeded revolution in 
Ireland and one set of proprietors another. 
But despite the frequent changes through 
which the country has passed — the plantations, trans- 
plantations and worst of all the confiscations under 
the penal code — the O'Connells have never entirely 
lost foothold in that wild and mountainous strip of 
land that stretches out storm-lashed into the Atlantic 
between Dingle Bay and the river of Kenmare, of 
which they were at one time the lords and masters. 
'' We have peace in these glens," said old Maurice 
O'Connell to Charles Smith, the antiquarian, when 
he was soHciting information for his history of Kerry, 

" and amid this seclusion enjoy a respite from persecu- 
tion, where we can still profess the beloved faith of our 



2 Daniel O' ConnelL Li 775- 

fathers. But if you make mention of me and mine, 
these seaside solitudes will no longer yield us an asylum. 
The Sassanagh will scale the mountains of Darrynane 
and we too shall be driven out upon the world without 
a home." 

But the O'Connells were a shrewd race withal, know- 
ing when to bend to the inevitable, when also to 
turn their opportunities to best advantage ; and per- 
haps they owed their inamunity from invasion as 
much to their political insignificance and the prudent 
alliances they contracted with their English neigh- 
bours as to the solitariness of their glens. 

Carhen House, the birthplace of the Liberator, 
has long ago disappeared, and the little village of 
Cahirciveen, which now the railway renders easily 
accessible, has since acquired a new importance 
from its proximity to the cable-station on Valentia 
Island. But the sea with all its changing moods of 
calm and storm, of ebb and flow, and the mountains 
on which the mists gather or which wind-cleared 
reflect in purple radiance the glory of the western 
sun abide the same. In all essential features the 
place remains unchanged from the day when as a 
boy O'Connell paddled on the silvery sands of Darry- 
nane Bay, or as a busy barrister snatching a briei 
holiday from his professional duties hunted the hare 
on foot and made the hills resound with shout and 
laughter, or as a wearied politician, seeking rest and 
health amid his native vales, watched with saddened 
eyes the waves as they curled and broke on that 
rock-bound coast. The wild beauty of the place 
early impressed itself on O'Connell's sensitive nature, 



1802] Early Life and Marriage. 3 

and recollections of his mountain home added an 
intensity to his love of his native land, which neither 
time nor the excitement of a public life ever dulled. 
Quoting Landor's lines from Gebir on the sea-shell — 

" Shake one, and it awakens : then apply 
Its polisht lips to your attentive ear, 
And it remembers its august abodes. 

And murmurs as the ocean murmurs there." 

he wrote to the poet in 1838 : 

" Would that I had you here, to show you ' their august 
abode ' in its most awful beauty. I could show you at 
noontide — when the stern south-western had blown long 
and rudely — the mountain waves coming in from the 
illimitable ocean in majestic succession, expanding their 
gigantic force, and throwing up stupendous masses of 
foam, against the more gigantic and more stupendous 
mountain cliffs that fence not only this my native spot, 
but form that eternal barrier which prevents the wild 
Atlantic from submerging the cultivated plains and high 
steepled villages of proud Britain herself. Or, were you 
with me amidst the Alpine scenery that surrounds my 
humble abode, listening to the eternal roar of the mount- 
ain torrent, as it bounds through the rocky defiles of 
my native glens, I would venture to tell you how I was 
born within the sound of the everlasting wave, and how 
my dreamy boyhood dwelt upon imaginary intercourse 
with those who are dead of yore, and fed its fond fancies 
upon the ancient and long-faded glories of that land 
which preserved literature and Christianity when the 
rest of now civilised Europe was shrouded in the dark- 
ness of godless ignorance. Yes ! my expanding spirit, 
delighted in these day dreams, till catching from them 



4 Daniel O'Connell [1775- 

an enthusiasm which no disappointment can embitter, 
nor accumulating years diminish, I formed the high 
resolve to leave my native land better after my death 
than I found her at my birth, and, if possible, to make 
her what she ought to be — 

' Great, glorious and free, 
First flower of the earth, and first gem of the sea.' 

" Perhaps, if I could show you the calm and exquisite 
beauty of these capacious bays and mountain promon- 
tories softened in the pale moonlight which shines this 
lovely evening, till all which during the day was grand 
and terrific has become calm and serene in the silent 
tranquillity of the clear night — perhaps you would readily 
admit that the man who has been so often called a 
ferocious demagogue, is, in truth, a gentle lover of 
Nature, an enthusiast of all her beauties — 

' Fond of each gentle and each dreary scene,' 
and catching from the loveliness as well as the dreariness 
of the ocean, and Alpine scenes with which he is sur- 
rounded, a greater ardour to promote the good of man, 
in his overwhelming admiration of the mighty works 
of God." 

The eldest son of Morgan O'Connell and Cather- 
ine, daughter of John O'Mullane of Whitechurch, 
county Cork, Daniel O'Connell was born at Carhen 
House on 6th August, 1775 ; being, with the excep- 
tion of his uncle, Count Daniel O'Connell. the first 
of his house destined to make a name for himself in 
history and to extend the reputation of a hitherto 
undistinguished and insignificant Irish clan into the 
farthest corners of the earth. His birth coincided 
almost with the declaration of American independ- 



1802] Early Life and Marriage. 5 

ence and with the first relaxation of those penal 
laws, through the operation of which, extended 
over three-quarters of a century, the Irish Roman 
Catholics, and in them the bulk of the nation, had 
been reduced to a state of physical, political, and 
moral serfdom almost without parallel in Europe. 
This first act of justice towards their own country- 
men had been followed by a determined effort on 
the part of the Irish Protestants — the descendants 
of successive generations of English settlers — to reas- 
sert the legislative independence of their own parlia- 
ment and rebut the claim of the British legislature to 
enact laws binding on Ireland. O'Connell was too 
young to remember the great volunteer movement 
and the intense wave of patriotism that passed over 
the country, reaching even to the Catholics, whose 
sympathy, if obliged to restrict itself to their purses, 
was on that account none the less sincere or efficient. 
When Grattan won his memorable but fruitless 
victory O'Connell was barely seven years old, and it 
is small wonder if in recalling his earliest impress- 
ions the statesman's figure should have loomed less 
largely in his imagination than that of the redoubt- 
able buccaneer, Paul Jones, whose appearance off 
the coast of Kerry struck terror into the peasants of 
the district. 

Like many great men O'Connell loved to attribute 
his success in life to the influence of his mother, and 
it was indeed to her — a pious, sensible, and affection- 
ate woman as she seems to have been — and to David 
Mahony, an old hedge-schoolmaster — one of those 
curious products of the penal code, whose avocation 



6 Daniel 0' ConnelL [1775- 

it was, seated behind some dyke or hedge out of the 
way of informers, to teach his pupils " feloniously to 
learn " — that he owed the first rudiments of his 
education. At an early age, however, he had the 
|ood fortune to be adopted by his uncle, Maurice of 
Darrynane, the head of the family, a childless and 
somewhat eccentric, but withal prudent old gentle- 
man, familiarly known in the neighbourhood as 
*' Old Hunting Cap " ; and it was at Darrynane that 
the happiest days of his childhood were passed. Of 
books he had small store. His favourite was Captain 
Cook's Voyages (** the first big book I ever read and I 
read it with intense avidity ") ; but it was in ballads 
that he chiefly delighted, and no time could ever 
efface the impression or even entirely the words of a 
ballad he once heard sung by a man and woman in 
the streets of Tralee when he was only twelve years 
old— 

" I leaned my back against an oak, 
I thought it was a trusty tree. 
But first it bent ; and then it broke — 
' Tvvas thus my love deserted me ! " 
Diffidence was never, perhaps, one of O'Connell's 
weak points, but it may be suspected that the preco- 
cious announcement of his intention to rival Flood 
and Grattan in " making a stir in the world also," dur- 
ing a discussion at his uncle's table on the relative 
merits of those two orators, owes its point to the par- 
donable exaggeration of a friendly afterthought. 
Anyhow his career at Father Harrington's school at 
Cove, now Queenstown (said to have been the first 
school opened in Ireland by a Catholic priest, subse- 



1802] Early Life and Marriage, 7 

quent to the relaxation of the penal laws), whither he 
was sent at the age of thirteen, hardly leads us to sup= 
pose that the natural exuberance of his boyhood was 
greatly damped by the thought of any such high re- 
solve, and for himself he seems to have been quite 
satisfied with having achieved the unique distinction 
of being the only boy in the school who had never 
been flogged. " This," he used to say, *' I owed 
to my attention." 

As a Roman Catholic, Trinity College was, of 
course, closed to him, but thanks to the liberality 
of his uncle, '* Old Hunting Cap," after spending 
three years at Harrington's school, he and his 
younger brother, Maurice, were, as had long been 
the custom among the wealthier Catholics, sent to 
complete their education abroad. Proving, how- 
ever, too old for admission into the school of Liege 
— their original destination — they entered the Eng- 
lish College of St. Omer in January, 1791. Here 
they remained for some eighteen months, and in an 
old writing desk, which still occupies its original 
niche at Darrynane, may yet be found a number of 
letters from the two boys to their uncle : not very 
clever nor very amusing — those of Daniel, at any 
rate, relating for the most part to his studies, and 
practical details of expenses incurred — but full of 
gratitude, and inquisitive of news from home. From 
the Principal of the College, however. Dr. Gregory 
Stapleton, old Maurice had the satisfaction of learn- 
ing that his nephews were doing well ; and if the 
younger was hardly as industrious as he might have 
been, Daniel at any rate was destined to make a 



8 Daniel O' Connell. 



[1775- 



remarkable figure in society. In August, 1792, the 
brothers were transferred to the college at Douay, 
where for a pension of twenty-five guineas a year 
" we get very small portions at dinner ; most of the 
lads getting what they call seconds, that is, a second 
portion every day, and for them they pay £^ or £^ 
a year extraordinary. We would be much obliged 
to you for leave to get them, but this as you please." 
Notwithstanding this and other drawbacks, such as 
having to pay for their own washing, Douay was 
"in every respect," Daniel thought, better than St. 
Omer. But the lessons in philosophy, from which 
he had expected to derive so much profit, were 
shortly interrupted by the progress of the French 
Revolution, and in obedience to his uncle's orders 
he and Maurice quitted Douay in January of the 
following year. Forced for safety's sake to wear 
the tricolour cockade, but loathing himself for so 
doing, Daniel no sooner found himself on board the 
Dover packet than he tore it from his hat and flung 
it into the sea. How intense, then, must have been 
his disgust to hear one of his fellow-passengers, a 
countryman of his own to boot, one John Sheares 
by name, destined himself a few years later to a 
traitor's death for his share in the Rebellion of '98, 
gloating over the details of the execution, which he 
had witnessed, of the unfortunate Louis XVI ! For 
such brutalities O'Connell had no taste. His per- 
sonal experience of the conduct of the revolution- 
ists, especially towards the religious orders, always 
coloured his estimate of the French Revolution, and 
it is small wonder that, on returning to England, he 



1802] Early Life and Marriage. 9 

should have declared himself to be at heart almost 
a Tory. Referring to the subject in maturer years 
he said : *' The French Revolution produced some 
good, but it was not without alloy : it was mingled 
with much impiety. Liberty and religion were first 
separated. The experiment was a bad one. It had 
much of French levity in it, and a deal of what was 
much worse." 

In the hurry of the flight from Douay O'Connell 
had left nearly all his wearing apparel behind him, 
and his first business on reaching London was to 
replenish his wardrobe. This done he went to board 
for a time with a Mr. Fagan, a relative apparently 
of the family, who earned a scanty livelihood by 
keeping a small private school in or near London. 
From him he acquired the elements of logic ; but the 
expenses of his establishment proving too great for 
Mr. Fagan's straitened resources, owing to the war and 
consequent rise in prices, O'Connell was before long 
compelled to shift his quarters. After keeping one 
term at Gray's Inn he was on 30th January, 1794, ad- 
mitted a student of Lincoln's, and took lodgings 
with a Mr. Tracy in a court off Coventry Street. 
Many years afterwards, happening to be pointing 
out the place to his friend, O'Neil Daunt, his atten- 
tion was attracted to a fishmonger's shop. " That 
shop," said he, " is in precisely the same state in 
which I remember it when I was at Gray's Inn, 
nearly fifty years ago — the same sized windows, the 
same frontage, and I believe the same fish ! " Sub- 
sequently for the sake of greater quietness and the 
facilities it afforded him for boating he removed out 



lo Daniel 0'Co?mell. [1775- 

to Chiswick, where he made the acquaintance, which 
ripened into a life-long friendship, of a young Irish- 
man of good family connections and fortune, Richard 
Newton Bennett, who afterwards became a colonial 
chief-justice. 

In the summer of 1795 he paid a visit to Ireland. 
" I remember," he said, contrasting the rapid modes 
of travelling in his later years with the slow and in- 
convenient methods of his youth, — 

" I remember when I left Darrynanefor London in 1795, 
my first day's journey was to Carhen, my second to Kil- 
lorglin, my third to Tralee, my fourth to Limerick, two 
days thence to Dublin. I sailed from Dublin in the 
evening ; my passage to Holyhead was performed in 
twenty-four hours ; from Holyhead to Chester took six 
and thirty hours ; from Chester to London three days." 

Meantime he studied diligently, his reading, outside 
the usual law-books — Espinasse's Nisi Prius, Black- 
stone's Commentaries and Coke On Littleton — being 
confined chiefly to the Bible and Gibbon's Decline 
and Fall, For the rest, as he wrote to his uncle, he 
had 

" Two objects to pursue — the one, the attainment of 
knowledge : the other, the acquisition of all those quali- 
ties which constitute the polite gentleman. , . . And 
as for the motives of ambition which you suggest, I as- 
sure you that no man can possess more of it than I do. 
I have, indeed, a glowing and — if I may use the express- 
ion — an enthusiastic ambition, which converts every 
toil into a pleasure, and every study into an amusement. 
Though nature may have given me subordinate talents, 



1802] EaiHy Life and Ma7'riage. 1 1 

I never will be satisfied with a subordinate situation in 
my profession. No man is able, I am aware, to supply 
the total deficiency of abilities, but everybody is capable 
of improving and enlarging a stock, however small, and 
in its beginning contemptible. It is this reflection af- 
fords me most consolation. If I do not rise at the Bar, 
I will not have to meet the reproaches of my own 
conscience." 

In November, 1796, having completed his terms, he 
returned to Ireland, and pending his call some eigh- 
teen months later to the Bar, went into lodgings at 
14 Trinity Place, Dublin. 

It was a critical moment in the history of his 
country ; for the recognition of the legislative inde- 
pendence of the Irish parliament, which the threat 
of armed resistance had extorted from England 
in 1782, had proved a delusive victory, and what the 
eloquence of Grattan, backed by the swords of the 
volunteers, had achieved the influence of bribery 
and corruption had undone. The one chance of 
safety that had offered itself, in the opportunity 
given to parliament in 1784 to consent to its own 
reform and thus to render itself independent of ad- 
ministration, had been neglected, and after fourteen 
years' experiment the country found itself more at 
the mercy of the English minister than it had been 
in the days that preceded the agitation for independ- 
ence. The desperate attempt of Earl Fitzwilliam 
in 1795 to give effect to the demands of the patriotic 
party, and at the eleventh hour, as it were, to rescue 
the constitution from the parliament that was be- 
traying it, had ended in failure, and with the arrival 



12 Daniel O' Co7melL 



[1775- 



of Earl Camden the country drifted rapidly in the 
direction of rebellion. 

O'Connell's return to Ireland was almost coinci- 
dent Avith the arrival of Lord Camden and the de- 
parture of Theobald Wolfe Tone from America on 
his mission to France. But in political questions he 
had at this time only the faintest interest. It is 
true he was induced by his friend Bennett to enroll 
himself as a United Irishman ; but the insight he 
thus obtained into the workings of the conspiracy 
served only to teach him " to have no secrets in 
politics." Of the leaders of the movement he al- 
ways spoke contemptuously and perhaps a little un- 
justly. In the diary which he kept at this time is 
the following significant note under date, 29 Decem- 
ber, 1796 — 

" The French Fleet is arrived in Bantry Bay. . . . 
The Irish are not yet sufficiently enlightened to bear the 
sun of Freedom. Freedom would soon dwindle into 
licentiousness : they would rob, they would murder. 
. . . The liberty which I look for is that which would 
increase the happiness of mankind." 

For his own part, having at the time no other ob- 
ject than haply to become a great and successful 
lawyer, he occupied himself chiefly in preparing for his 
call to the Bar, which took place on 19th May, 1798, 
three days only before that on which the Rebellion 
broke out. He had recently joined the Lawyers' 
Yeomanry Corps ; but thinking, after the rising took 
place, that it would be prudent, owing to his connec- 
tion, albeit of the slightest, with the revolutionary 



1802] Early Life and Marriage. 13 

movement, to retire from Dublin till the storm had 
blown over, he took his passage in a potato-boat 
bound for Courtmacsherry, and after a capital trip 
of thirty-six hours found himself safely ashore at 
Cork. In Kerry only the faintest reverberations 
were heard of the storm that was devastating Wick- 
low and Wexford and spreading consternation to 
the very heart of Dublin, and for O'Connell the 
summer would have passed away pleasantly enough 
had he not, in his enthusiasm for hare-hunting, heed- 
lessly exposed himself for several hours to a heavy, 
drenching rain, in consequence of which he con- 
tracted a violent fever, which brought him almost 
to death's door. 

On his recovery, he joined the Munster circuit in 
the following year, being one of the first to profit by 
the Relief Act of 1793 and the removal of the dis- 
abilities placed by the penal laws on Catholics prac- 
tising at the Bar. Recalling the circumstances for 
Daunt's benefit, he said : 

" It was at four o'clock on a fine sunny morning that 
I left Carhen, on horseback. My brother John came 
part of the way with me ; and oh, how I did envy him 
when he turned off the road to hunt among the mount- 
ains, whilst /had to enter on the drudgery of my pro- 
fession. But we parted. I looked after him, from time 
to time, until he was out of sight, and then I cheered up 
my spirits as well as I could. I had left home at such an 
early hour that I was in Tralee at half-past twelve. I 
got my horse fed, and thinking it was as well to push on, 
I remounted him, and took the road to Tarbert by Lis- 
towell. A few miles further on, a shower of rain drove 



14 Daniel O' ConnelL [1775- 

me under a bridge for shelter. While I stayed there, the 
rain sent Robert Hickson also under the bridge. He 
saluted me, and asked me where I was going. I an- 
swered, * To Tarbert.' ' Why so late ? ' said Hickson. 
* I am not late,' said I ; * I have been up since four 
o'clock this morning.' 'Why, where do you come 
from?' 'From Carhen.' Hickson looked astonished, 
for the distance was nearly fifty Irish miles. But he 
expressed his warm approval of my activity. ' You '11 
do, young gentleman,' said he ; ' I see you '11 do.' I 
then rode on, and got to Tarbert about five in the after- 
noon — fully sixty miles, Irish, from Carhen. There 
was n't one book to be had at the inn — I had no ac- 
quaintance in the town ; and I felt my spirits low 
enough at the prospect of a long, stupid evening. But 
I was relieved by the sudden appearance of Ralph Mar- 
shall, an old friend of mine, who came to the inn to 
dress for a ball that took place in Tarbert that night. 
He asked me to accompany him to the ball. 'Why,' 
said I, ' I have ridden sixty miles.' ' Oh, you don't seem 
in the least tired,' said he, ' so come along.' Accord- 
ingly I went, and sat up until two o'clock in the morn- 
ing, dancing, I arose next day at half-past eight, and 
rode to the Limerick assizes. At the Tralee assizes of 
the same circuit James Connor gave me a brief. There 
was one of the witnesses of the other party whose cross- 
examination was thrown upon me by the opposite coun- 
sel, I did not do as I have seen fifty young counsels 
do ; namely, hand the cross-examination over to my 
senior. I thought it due to myself to attempt it, hit or 
miss ! and I cross-examined him right well. I remember 
he stated that he had his share of a pint of whiskey ; 
whereupon I asked him whether his share was not all 
except the pewter ? He confessed that it was ; and the 



1802] Early Life and Ma^^riage. 15 

oddity of my putting the question was very successful, and 
created a general and hearty laugh. Jerry Keller re- 
peated the encouragement Robert Hickson had already 
bestowed upon my activity, in the very same words — 
* You '11 do, young gentleman, you '11 do.' " 

Though the Relief Act of 1793 had opened the 
legal profession to the Roman Catholics, the inner 
Bar, with its emoluments and high ofifices, still and 
for some time even after emancipation had been won 
continued to be jealously preserved by the Protest- 
ant ascendancy for itself. But of O'Connell's suc- 
cess even in the limited sphere permitted him there 
was from the first no question. His fee-book, still 
extant, shows an income of £60 for the first year, 
rising to ^^420.1 7.6 in the second, to ^1077.4.3 in 
1806, and to ^^3,808.7.0 in 1814. In 1828 his emol- 
uments exceeded ^8000, and that too though he 
lost one term. 

Nevertheless it is hardly to be wondered at if, in 
the consciousness of possessing abilities which would 
have raised him to the highest position in his pro- 
fession, he should sometimes have allowed himself 
to treat the occupants of the judicial bench with a 
degree of contempt bordering at times on insolence. 
And regrettable though these outbursts of temper 
may seem to us, it is absurd to apologise for them 
as inexcusable. For, with a Norbury, w^ho com- 
bined the ferocity of a hangman with the jocular- 
ity of a buffoon, representing the majesty and 
impartiality of the law ; with a Saurin, whose atti- 
tude towards the Catholics seemed constantly to be 
coloured by a vindictive recollection of the revocation 



1 6 Daniel O'Conneil. [1775- 

of the edict of Nantes, as attorney-general ; and 
with a Bench adorned by a Day, of whom Curran 
remarked that his efforts to understand a point of 
law resembled an attempt to open an oyster with a 
rolling-pin ; by a Boyd, whose excessive fondness 
for brandy led to his invention of a curiously-shaped 
ink-pot out of which, with the help of a hollow quill, 
he contrived to slake his thirst in court without 
greatly compromising his dignity ; and by a Lefroy, 
whose misfortune it was to have mistaken the bench 
for a Calvinistic pulpit — with such examples before 
him worse lapses than ever he was guilty of might 
surely have been deemed pardonable. 

Besides, it must not be forgotten that O'Connell, 
lawyer though he was, had small respect for the 
mummeries of the law, and laughed heartily at the 
legal virtues of horse-hair wigs. Doubtless the laugh 
was full of bitterness. For he could not forget that 
he was an Irishman, and that the honours open to 
the descendant of a French Huguenot were inacces- 
sible to him — a Catholic and a native. But at least 
his countrymen should be taught by his example to 
throw off their old habits of servility, and taking 
courage from him learn to stand erect like men. 
Nor was the lesson wholly in vain, deeply though 
the iron of oppression had entered into their souls, 
and even after the triumphs of the courts had yielded 
to those greater ones of the House of Commons, the 
title of Counsellor ever remained his favourite appel- 
lation with the Irish peasantry. How indeed should 
it have been otherwise? Emancipation and Repeal — 
these were things which touched his imagination, 



1802] Early Life and Marriage. 17 

but hardly interested the Irish peasant in a prac- 
tical way. It was different when, standing in the 
dock, feeling the meshes of the law tightening 
around him, and hope itself expiring in his breast, 
to see the Counsellor enter the court and almost 
with a word restore him to liberty. This not only 
touched his imagination but won his gratitude, and 
whatever the Irish peasant is, he is neither dull nor 
ungrateful. 

That no one whose legal acquirements were not of 
the highest order could ever have ventured to ad- 
dress the bench as O'Connell sometimes did may be 
taken for granted. Cleverness and self-conceit are 
as useful qualities in a lawyer as in another; but 
mere cleverness and self-conceit would never have 
raised O'Connell to the position he held at the Bar 
or have enabled him to hold his own with a Norbury 
and a Johnson. And it is all the more necessary to 
insist on this point as the idea is not yet extinct that 
O'Connell was more demagogue than lawyer, and 
that he owed his success more to his assurance and 
rough wit than to any solid knowledge of law he 
possessed. It is true that in the serener atmosphere 
of modern times no judge would tolerate the lan- 
guage in which O'Connell occasionally addressed the 
court. But the Ireland of to-day is not the Ireland 
of the beginning of the century, and in nothing is 
the change more perceptible than in the administra- 
tion of justice. The spirit of intolerance is perhaps 
not yet quite extinct ; but at least there is greater 
decorum, and such an anomaly as a Norbury or a 
Saurin is happily no longer possible. 



1 8 Daniel O'Connell. [1775- 

His first circuit over, O'Connell returned to Dublin 
to find the whole town in a state of intense excite- 
ment in regard to the projected legislative union be- 
tween Great Britain and Ireland. Like his brethren 
of the Bar generally, who saw in the measure the 
probable decadence of Dublin and the consequent 
diminution of their own importance and fees, he 
was naturally strongly opposed to it on professional 
grounds. But as the agitation grew, his opposition 
assumed a political complexion. On 13th January, 
1800, he attended a meeting in the Royal Exchange, 
convened by a number of influential Roman Catho- 
lics for the purpose of protesting against the insinua- 
tion that the Union was favourably regarded by 
them. Being induced to speak, he opened his mind 
freely on the subject. It was the first time he had 
addressed a public gathering ; but the difBdence 
with which he began soon wore off before the ap- 
proving cheers of his audience. Were the alterna- 
tive offered him, he exclaimed, of union or the 
re-enactment of the penal code in all its rigour, he 
would without hesitation prefer the latter as the 
lesser and more sufferable evil, trusting to the justice 
of his brethren, the Protestants of Ireland, who had 
already liberated him rather than lay his country at 
the feet of foreigners. To this opinion he continued 
faithful through life. It is the key-note of his whole 
political creed — union amongst Irishmen of every 
religious and political persuasion for national objects 
— an Irishman first and then only a Roman Catholic. 
" It is a curious thing enough," he afterwards re- 
marked to O'Neil Daunt, " that all the principles of 



1802] Early Life and Marriage. 19 

my subsequent political life are contained in my 
very first speech." 

His interference in politics, however, offended his 
uncle, who, with the timidity natural to one who had 
been brought up under the demoralising influence of 
the penal laws, was apprehensive lest active opposi- 
tion to government might damage his professional 
prospects. Nor indeed was he far wrong. At any 
time, from the very beginning almost of his career, 
O'Connell could, had he been so minded, have pur- 
chased advancement and office by the surrender of 
his political principles. That he did not do so, may 
be set in the balance against the taunts afterwards 
levelled at him of living on the bounty of his coun- 
trymen. Never indeed was sarcasm more pointless, 
and those who sneered at the " big beggarman " 
forgot that the national tribute reflected as much 
honour on the recipient as it did on the givers of it. 
Apart, however, from the question of the Union 
there is no reason to suppose that at this time 
O'Connell took any particular interest in politics. 
But the Union exercised a profound effect upon him. 
It was the Union, he always declared, that first stirred 
him up to come forward in politics. " I was," he said, 
" maddened when I heard the bells of St. Patrick's 
ringing out a joyful peal for Ireland's degradation, as 
if it was a glorious national festival. My blood boiled, 
and I vowed, on that morning, that the foul dishonour 
should not last, if I could ever put an end to it." 

Between his first and second appearance on a pub- 
lic platform five years elapsed — five years of honour- 
able progress in his profession, of mental growth 



20 Daniel O' Co7inell. [1775- 

and domestic felicity. At what time he fell in love 
with his cousin, Mary O'Connell, we do not know ; 
but if his practice was regulated by the advice he 
once gave to a friend of his never to offer marriage 
at an early stage in his courtship, the affair, we may 
conjecture, was probably of some years' standing. 
Mary O'Connell was the daughter of Dr. O'Connell 
of Tralee, a gentleman much esteemed for his pro- 
fessional ability, but of pecuniary resources too 
limited to provide his daughter with a dower. The 
match displeased O'Connell's family, particularly his 
uncle Maurice, who, in fact, had already singled out 
a suitable partner for him in the person of Miss 
Mary Ann Healy, a mature spinster of short stature, 
but remarkably long purse and — nose. Indeed, so 
seriously did her personal appearance threaten to 
damage her matrimonial prospects, that in making 
his will, her father thought it only right to increase 
her portion expressly '* on account of her nose." 
But neither Miss Healy's attractions, nor the fear of 
being disinherited by his uncle, was sufficient to 
move O'Connell from his purpose. 

" I never," he said, " proposed marriage to any woman 
but one — my Mary. I said to her, ' Are you engaged, 
Miss O'Connell ? ' — she answered ' I am not ' ; ' then,' 
said I, ' will you engage yourself to me ? ' 'I will,' was 
her reply. And I said I would devote my life to make 
her happy. She deserved that I should : she gave me 
thirty-four years of the purest happiness that man ever 
enjoyed." 

The marriage was privately celebrated at the lodg- 
ings of the bride's brother-in-law, James Connor, in 



1802] Early Life mid Marriage. 21 

Dame Street, Dublin, on 23rd June, 1802, and shortly 
afterwards O'Connell took a house in Westland 
Row. It was in every respect a happy marriage. 
His wife proved a true helpmate and companion to 
him, shading in all his joys and sorrows, stimulating 
his ambition and keeping always one place quiet for 
him, where, when worn out by professional cares or 
discouraged by the apparent hopelessness of the 
political struggle on which he had entered, he was 
always sure of finding peace and sympathy and en- 
couragement. It is not given to every man, espe- 
cially to such as pass their lives in the fierce blaze of 
public opinion, so to regulate their conduct as always 
to avoid the arrows of scandal. But in O'Connell's 
case they fell harmlessly by his side, and if it was 
indeed true, as calumny asserted, that on one occa- 
sion he allowed his attentions to a married lady to 
pass the strict bounds of propriety, this, in the case 
of one of the best-abused men that ever lived, was 
surely but as the dust in the balance, underlying the 
pure gold of affection that shines through every 
written v/ord of his correspondence. 

Certainly, the woman who, after fifteen years of 
wedded life, could write the following letter to her 
husband can hardly be called unhappy : 

" My own darling Dan, — I assure you, my darling, you 
are our continual subject. When a kind husband or 
father is spoken of, Ellen and Kate will exclaim, 
' Mamma, sure he is not so good a husband or father as 
our father ! ' You may guess, darling, what my reply is. 
You know what you deserve, and you are aware that in 
existence I don't think there is such a husband and 



2 2 Daniel 0'Cofi7telL [1775-I802] 

father as you are, and always have been. Indeed, I 
think it quite impossible there could, and if the truest 
and tenderest affection can repay you, believe me that I 
feel and bear it for you. In truth, my own Dan, I am 
always at a loss for words to convey to you how I love 
and doat on you. Many and many a time I exclaim to 
myself, ' What a happy creature am I ; how grateful 
should I be to Providence for bestowing on me such a 
husband ! ' And so, indeed, I am. We will, Love, 
shortly be fifteen years married, and I can answer that I 
never have had cause to repent it. I have, darling, ex- 
perienced all the happiness of the married state without 
feeling any of its cares, thanks to a fond and indulgent 
husband." 




CHAPTER II. 



IRELAND AFTER THE UNION. 



1803-1812. 



THE great experiment had been made. Ireland, 
which, since the days of Henry II. had led a 
more or less independent existence ; bound 
only to her sister-island by the bond of allegiance 
which both Englishmen and Irishmen owed to the 
same crown, had now, for legislative purposes, by 
the Act of Union, become absorbed in the latter. 
Her parliament — at once her pride and her shame — 
had ceased its separate existence. Her ancient no- 
bility, with privileges curtailed and hereditary lustre 
dimmed, sat silent and despised under the con- 
temptuous stare of the independent barons of Eng- 
land. Her representatives, diminished in numbers 
to the requirements of a mere province, without the 
power, or even the will, to influence by one hair's 
breadth the fate of their country, sank into igno- 
minious silence, or sought for compensation in the 
wider interests of the Empire. Over the whole 
island there hung a silence like unto the silence of 
death. Was it really death ? Were the energies of 

23 



24 Daniel O' Connell. [1803- 

the nation actually paralysed ? Or, was it not rather 
the tranquillity that follows a storm : the harbinger 
of peaceful days to come ? Had the great experi- 
ment succeeded? Had Pitt at last solved the great 
problem that had defied the wisdom of all the illus- 
trious statesman of the past ? Or had he commit- 
ted the greatest blunder of which any statesman was 
capable? Who should say? History would inter- 
pret it by the events of the future. 

Suddenly out of the silence there fell upon the 
startled ears of the metropolis the sound of a call to 
arms. On that quiet summer evening, the 23rd 
July, 1803, a fresh insurrection had broken out. For 
a moment Thomas Street was filled by a rushing, 
thronging crowd. For a moment there was a real 
danger lest Dublin Castle should fall into their 
hands. Half an hour later their leader, the ill-fated 
but high-souled Robert Emmet, was a fugitive 
among the Wicklow hills, and of the insurrection 
nothing remained but the corpse of one grey-headed 
old man, a judge of the land. Lord Kilwarden, than 
whom Ireland never had a warmer or a truer friend, 
done to death in a mistake. Yes ! the whole thing 
was a mistake. 

" I ask you," said O'Connell, " whether a madder 
scheme was ever devised by a Bedlamite ? Here was 
Mr. Emmet, having got together about ^1200 in money, 
and seventy-four men ; whereupon he makes war upon 
King George IH., with 150,000 of the best troops in 
Europe, and the wealth of three kingdoms at his com- 
mand ! Why, my good sir, poor Emmet's scheme was 
as wild as anything in romance." 







o 2 



1812] Ireland After the Union. 25 

But mad and visionary as the scheme was, it is out 
of such stuff that the history of Ireland is chiefly 
made up. Time after time had the Irish measured 
their strength against the might of England, each 
time to reap only defeat and irretrievable disaster. 
When would they learn the folly of these heroic 
experiments ? 

There, keeping watch and ward in the street for 
six nights together, so long as the panic lasted, 
dressed in the uniform of the Lawyers' Yeomanry 
Corps, learning among other things that to entrust 
civilians with a bayonet was not perhaps the best 
way to restore order, stood one whose life's business 
it was to instruct his fellow-countrymen in the effi- 
cacy of constitutional agitation ; to turn them aside 
from midnight conspiracy and frantic rebellion ; to 
convince them that the pen of the gownsman and 
the voice of the orator are more effective weapons 
than the sword of the soldier and the knife of the 
assassin ; but above all to teach them that only 
through national unity, through singleness of aim 
and purpose, and the laying aside of party feuds and 
party jealousies could they ever expect to attain to 
national independence. A difficult — nay, an almost 
impossible — undertaking it might well have seemed 
in the case of a country so torn to pieces, as Ireland 
was, by religious, political, social, and agrarian dissen- 
sions. The one point from which a man might have 
worked had been destroyed when Pitt destroyed the 
Irish parliament. For, ignorant and bigoted as were 
many of those who sat in it ; accessible as were many 
of them to the influence of bribes and offices ; yet they 



26 Daniel O'Connell. [1803- 

vvere not wholly inaccessible to the claims of justice 
and humanity, nor to the influence of popular opin- 
ion. The victory of '82 and the concessions to the 
Roman Catholics proved this. True, its delibera- 
tions had sometimes resembled the wrangling of a 
bear-garden ; true, indeed, that the Imperial Parlia- 
ment would probably deliberate more calmly — if, in- 
deed, it condescended to deliberate at all. This was 
the danger. For how could three-fourths of the 
population insist on having their wants and wishes 
attended to if, excluded from representation, they 
were likewise deprived of the influence of public 
opinion ? Let the reader compare the division lists 
during the first quarter of this century with those of 
more modern times, and he will be able to appreci- 
ate in something like its formidable dimensions the 
task which O'Connell undertook, and if only par- 
tially, yet not wholly unsuccessfully, accomplished. 

O'Connell's first appearance in public, as we have 
remarked, was at a meeting of a few spirited Roman 
Catholic citizens of Dublin to protest against the 
Union. But as a body the Catholics regarded the 
measure with languid interest. Their leaders, if not 
convinced, had at least been induced to hope that 
the surrender of their national independence would 
be followed by their complete religious emancipa- 
tion. The hope had proved delusive, and Pitt, un- 
able wholly to exonerate himself from blame, had 
repudiated his responsibility by resigning of^ce. It 
was a case of moral bankruptcy : for the Union 
remained, though the price stipulated for it had 
not been paid. The result greatly damaged the 



1812] Ireland After the Union. 27 

reputation of the chiefs of the CathoHc party ; but the 
suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, during the 
years immediately following the Union, effectually, 
if not entirely, silenced all remonstrance. Never- 
theless as time went on symptoms began to manifest 
themselves that the younger Catholics were grow- 
ing impatient of the timid policy of their nominal 
leaders. Already at a semi-informal meeting in 
February, 1805 — the first that had been held since 
the Rebellion — O'Connell, now beginning to take 
an active interest in politics, had protested against 
further delay in agitating their claims, and so far 
successfully that the meeting very cautiously and 
after much hesitation resolved to petition parlia- 
ment. The petition, the first of a long series to 
the Imperial Parliament, was presented on 25th 
March by Lord Grenville in the Upper and by Fox 
in the Lower House. Among the signatures ap- 
pended to it that of O'Connell appears as seven- 
teenth in the list. 

It was of course rejected ; but its rejection, far from 
seeming a reason for relaxing their efforts and falling 
back into hopeless apathy, was in O'Connell's opinion 
only an argument in favour of redoubled exertions 
and sessional petitions. In this, however, he had 
reluctantly to yield to the will of the majority, which 
in their desire not to hamper Fox, who had in the 
meantime succeeded to office, thought it wiser to 
refrain from agitating the question, leaving it to that 
statesman's generosity and well-known sympathy 
with them to advocate their claims at whatever 
opportunity should seem to him most propitious. 



28 Daniel O' Connell. 



[1803- 



The opportunity never arrived ; but after Fox's 
death, a few months later, bolder counsels began to 
prevail. At a Catholic aggregate on 17th February, 
1807, O'Connell, aided perhaps by the accidental 
absence of John Keogh of Mount Jerome — a Goliath 
among the Catholics of an older generation and still, 
though tottering on the edge of the grave, not with- 
out influence among them — succeeded in carrying 
the meeting with him. What, he asked, was the 
meaning of the objection that to petition parliament 
for admission into the constitution was to injure the 
Empire ? Was it an injury to offer the allegiance 
of five millions of subjects? He would tell those 
who spoke thus that emancipation would long ago 
have been conceded by their Protestant countrymen 
in their domestic legislature had not the Union, 
with rude violence and amid the wreck of the 
country, swept away every opportunity of kindness 
and liberality on the one hand and every occasion 
of gratitude and affection on the other. By a small 
majority the meeting resolved to again petition 
parliament. But the petition was never presented. 
The courage with which O'Connell's words had 
inspired it soon evaporated, and Keogh, indignant at 
the presumption to instruct him in the management 
of the Catholic business, procured its withdrawal at 
a subsequent meeting on i8th April, nominally out 
of deference to the wishes of the veteran advocate 
of their claims, Henry Grattan. 

Nevertheless the " dignified silence," or *' wait-a- 
while" policy of Keogh and his aristocratic friends 
had received a blow from which it never recovered. 




HENRY GRATTAN. 

FROM AN ENGRAVING BY GODLEY, IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



1812] h^ eland After the Union. 29 

**Keogh," said O'Connell, "was undoubtedly useful 
in his day. But he was one who would rather that 
the cause should fail than that anybody but himself 
should have the honour of carrying it." The judg- 
ment, thouorh severe, was not unmerited ; for the 
Catholics, in the unbiassed opinion of Wolfe Tone, 
owed Keogh little thanks for the way in which he 
had bungled their affairs in 1793. The growing in- 
fluence of O'Connell was apparent at the next aggre- 
gate, on 19th January, 1808. Again the voice of the 
*' dignified silence " party made itself heard in favour 
of delay. The time was not propitious ; their 
avowed enemies were in power, and the like. But 
all these objections — objections that could only man- 
ifest a spirit of division, a feeling of party, and a 
miserable ambition of leadership — O'Connell swept 
aside, and under the inspiration of his eloquence the 
meeting unanimously resolved to petition. From 
that day he and not Keogh was the leader of the 
Catholics. 

The first step had been taken. Whither would it 
lead ? Not as yet to emancipation ; but to dissen- 
sions, heart-burnings, petty jealousies, despondency, 
-and apathy among the Catholics themselves. Only 
through much tribulation and long-suffering were 
the Catholics to work out their freedom. And the 
cause of all this misfortune was, in the first place, 
the man who, though himself a Protestant, had un- 
selfishly devoted the evening of a long and useful life 
to the advancement of their cause ! 

On 23d May, 1808, Grattan presented the Catho- 
lic petition to the House of Commons, and two days 



30 Daniel O^ Co7inelL [I803- 

later in referring it to committee he announced that 
he was able to infuse a Httle novelty into the debate 
in consequence of his having been authorised by the 
Catholics to consent to a veto by the crown on all 
episcopal nominations, or in other words that no 
Catholic bishop should be nominated without the ex- 
press approbation of the sovereign. The statement 
made a favourable impression on the House and dis- 
armed many of the opponents of emancipation. 
But in Ireland the announcement was received with 
very mingled feelings. No one could of course be- 
lieve that Grattan had made the statement without 
having some good grounds for it ; but it was equally 
certain that no such concession had been made by the 
Catholics publicly as a body. It is unnecessary to 
discuss the details of the intrigue that had led to the 
unfortunate misunderstanding. Sufifice it to say that 
while the Catholic aristocracy, and all those who 
hoped to profit in the distribution of the loaves and 
fishes of office, regarded the concession with favour 
as a short-cut to the realisation of their wishes, the 
bulk of their co-religionists repudiated it with indig- 
nation. Neither side would give way, and so, 
divided into vetoists and anti-vetoists, wasting their 
strength in mutual recrimination and mutual abuse, 
the Catholics ceased, for a time, to excite anything 
but the contempt and derision of their opponents- 
Only O'Connell never despaired of their ultimate 
success, insisting continually, in season and out of 
season, on the necessity of constant agitation ; but 
preaching for the most part to dull and hostile ears. 
But the baneful effects of the Union had, by this 



1812] Ireland After the Uition. 31 

time, begun to be felt in other quarters than among 
the Catholics, and nowhere with greater intensity 
than among the merchants of the metropolis. This 
was to be expected. For the conditions which had 
led to the extraordinary development of Dublin 
during the latter half of the eighteenth century — 
the confluence thither of the aristocracy and gentry 
during the meeting of parliament, stirring into 
activity all those trades and professions that follow 
in the wake of wealth — now that they had ceased to 
exist, their disappearance had produced a correspond- 
ing state of depression. It was as if the centre of a 
great industry had suddenly been annihilated ; and 
as Rome suffered when Constantine removed the 
capital of the empire to the shores of the Bosphorus, 
so Dublin suffered when Pitt transferred the Irish 
legislature to London. What Dublin lost London 
gained ; but the gain to the larger and richer town 
did not compensate for the loss to the smaller and 
poorer. The mansions of the nobility and gentry, 
formerly replete with elegance and luxury, standing 
tenantless and deserted, or, if inhabited at all, so 
subdivided and sub-let that each apartment was the 
abode of over-crowded poverty and squalor ; the un- 
frequented streets, the steadily-rising list of failures 
and bankruptcies — all these were the sure signs of 
decadence. In proportion as the city declined com- 
mercially so did it decline intellectually. What visi- 
tor to Dublin in the early decades of this century 
could ever think of comparing it with the Dublin 
of Charlemont's time ? Elsewhere the signs of de- 
pression were not so visible, and if indeed Limerick, 



32 Daniel O' Connell. [I803- 

Cork, Galway, and Waterford remained stationary, 
Belfast was actually growing and beginning to rival 
Dublin itself in wealth and importance. But Bel- 
fast had never known what it was to be the capital 
of the kingdom, and the causes which were leading to 
its increasing prosperity were natural and wholly 
devoid of political significance. Throughout the 
country generally the yearly growing number of 
absentee proprietors, bringing with it the dissolution 
of those personal ties which had hitherto existed 
between landlord and tenant and helped to mollify 
the asperities of a state of affairs having its origin 
in conquest and confiscation, pointed inevitably in 
the direction of Encumbered Estates Acts and the 
transference of the soil from gentlemen into the 
hands of money lenders. The facts were too patent 
to admit of dispute, and men, who had hitherto 
fiercely opposed each other in politics and religion, 
found themselves drawn together on a common plat- 
form by a perception of their common misfortune. 

In the darkness that had fallen on the Catholic 
cause the prospect of finding in the repeal of the 
Union a fresh rallying-point for agitation, in which 
Irishmen of every religious persuasion, Protestant, 
Catholic, and Presbyterian, could take part, seemed 
to O'Connell an unexpected blessing. It was with 
extreme satisfaction, therefore, that he accepted an 
invitation from the high sheriff of Dublin, Sir James 
Riddall, to attend an aggregate meeting of the citi- 
zens, freemen and freeholders of Dublin, at the Royal 
Exchange, on 1 8th September, 18 10, to consider 
the propriety of petitioning parliament for a repeal 



1812] Ireland After the U7izon, 33 

of the Union. Speaking in support of a resolution 
to appoint a committee to prepare the petition, he 
said that the Union, so far from heaHng the wounds 
of their country, had only added another element of 
discord. No Irishman could look back on the ten 
years that had elapsed since the Union — ten years 
of torpor and silence — without a sense of shame and 
indignation. It was a melancholy period — a period 
in which Ireland saw her artificers starved, her 
tradesmen begging, her merchants become bank- 
rupts, her gentry banished, her nobility degraded. 
Within that period domestic turbulence had broken 
out from day to day into open violence and murder ; 
religious dissensions aggravated and embittered ; 
credit and commerce annihilated ; taxation aug- 
mented in amount and vexation. But as the Union 
had only been possible through their own folly and 
religious dissensions, so its repeal was only possible 
through mutual tolerance and national unity. The 
Protestant alone could not expect to liberate his 
country ; the Roman Catholic alone could not do it ; 
neither could the Presbyterian ; but amalgamate the 
three into the Irishman, and the Union stood re- 
pealed. Let them, he begged them, learn discretion 
from their enemies. They had crushed Ireland by 
fomenting religious discord : let them serve her by 
abandoning it for ever. Let each man give up his 
share of the mischief : let each man forsake every 
feeling of rancour. He said not this to barter with 
them. He required no equivalent. Whatever course 
they took, his mind was fixed. He would trample 
under foot the Catholic claims could they interfere 



34 Da7iiel O' Connell. [1803- 

with Repeal. Nay, were Mr. Perceval to-morrow to 
offer him the repeal of the Union upon the terms of 
re-enacting the entire penal code, he declared it from 
his heart and in the presence of his God, that he 
would most cheerfully embrace his offer. 

But the poison of religious discord had entered 
too deeply into the life-blood of the nation to yield 
thus easily to the medicine of remonstrance, how- 
ever wisely or eloquently administered. An old 
tale, and soon told in the case of Ireland, to relate 
how enthusiasm was followed by apathy ; and in 
short how the whole movement burnt itself out in 
ineffectual speeches and cheers ; ineffectual to attract 
attention as the rattling of the prisoner's chains turn- 
ing restlessly in his sleep is to disturb the security of 
his gaoler. Nothing, it was clear to O'Connell, 
could be expected so long as the Catholics were 
divided amongst themselves. How to compose their 
differences, and to give greater emphasis to their de- 
mands than was afforded by the spasmodic opera- 
tion of aggregate assemblies, and the listless action 
of an irresponsible committee, was the problem that 
awaited solution. 

In the early days of Catholic agitation their meet- 
ings had partaken of the character of a representative 
assembly, and were indeed like those of the volun- 
teers, a sort of hnperium in imperio. That such as- 
semblies as that which gained for itself the nick-name 
of the Back-Lane Parliament constituted a real 
menace to the independence of Parliament could not 
be denied, and immediately after the concessions of 
1793 an act was passed, called the Convention Act, 



1812] Ireland After the Union. 35 

which, it may be remarked, was not formally repealed 
till 1879 — rendering such representative meetings 
for any purposes whatever illegal in the future. 
From that time forward the affairs of the Catholics 
had rested with a Committee, elected by a general 
meeting, whose business had restricted itself to the 
preparation of petitions to Parliament. The question 
was how to give to such Committee the character 
and authority of a representative body without in- 
fringing the provisions of the Convention Act. The 
first step was to increase the size of the Committee. 
This was done at an aggregate meeting on 19th July, 
1 8 10, when the preparation of a petition was en- 
trusted to forty-two persons ; their appointment be- 
ing safeguarded by a resolution to the effect that 
they were not to be regarded as the representatives 
of the Catholic body or any portion thereof. The 
next step was taken by the Committee itself at a sub- 
sequent meeting on 29th December, when a resolution 
— based on a previous one of 30th July, suggesting 
the formation of local committees holding communi- 
cation with the general Committee in Dublin as 
likely to prove highly useful to the Catholic cause — 
was passed, requiring their secretary to address an 
invitation to the Catholics of Ireland generally to 
appoint managers of the Catholic petition in each 
county. The invitation was accepted here and there, 
and when the Committee met on 2d February, 181 1, 
to frame a petition for presentation to parliament, 
the presence of a number of country gentlemen, as 
managers for their respective counties, led to a fierce 
dispute, the opposition being led by Keogh's son, 



36 Daniel O'Connell. [1803- 

Cornelius, supported by Lord Ffrench, who insisted 
that the Committee had no right, without infringing 
the Convention Act, to add to its numbers beyond 
that fixed by the aggregate meeting from which it 
had derived its authority. The objection was met 
by O'Connell, who argued that as the Committee it- 
self was not a representative assembly, the presence 
of the managers could not be regarded as a breach 
of the Convention Act, inasmuch as, according to a 
trite and quaint maxim, which no one disputed, " a 
deputy could not constitute a deputy." It was his 
first attempt at driving a coach and six through an 
act of Parliament — an art at which he afterwards 
became adept. 

But it soon appeared that government was not 
going to allow the action of the Committee to pass 
unchallenged. On 12th February the Chief Secre- 
tary, Wellesley Pole, issued a circular letter to all 
sheriffs, chief magistrates, etc., throughout the coun- 
try, authorising them to arrest and summarilj^ im- 
prison all such Catholics as, in contravention of the 
Act 33, George III., chap. 29, were engaged in ap- 
pointing representatives, delegates, or managers, to 
act on their behalf, as members of an unlawful as- 
sembly sitting in Dublin, and calling itself the 
Catholic Committee. The letter, a mere britttun 
fulmen intended to deter the Catholics from the 
course upon which they were entering, gave rise to 
a debate in the House of Commons on 22d Feb- 
ruary, when it was sharply criticised as unconstitu- 
tionally trenching on the sacred right of petitioning. 
But before any information regarding the debate 




DANIEL O'CONNELL, M.P. 

FROM A PAINTING BY BERNARD MULRENIN, R. H.A. , IN THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY. 



1812] Ireland After the Union. 2>7 

could reach Ireland, matters there had entered on a 
new phase. For the Catholic Committee, reassem- 
bling on 23d February to resume its consideration 
of the petition, an order was conveyed from the 
Castle requiring its instant dispersal. This the 
Catholics refused to do ; but after an angry wrangle 
with two police magistrates, sent to enforce the or- 
der of government, they adjourned for three days in 
order to allow of a conference between their leaders 
and the Chief Secretary. The conference never 
took place. On 26th February the Catholics reas- 
sembled, according to the adjournment, and tran- 
sacted their business without further interruption. 

The Committee had scored its first victory. It 
had risked a collision with the government, and the 
government had declined the challenge. Elated 
with the success, the Catholics started a vigorous 
campaign against administration. At an aggregate 
meeting on 8th March, O'Connell, in a very temper- 
ate and constitutional speech, moved to address the 
Prince Regent on the subject of Pole's letter, and to 
petition for his removal and that of the Lord-Lieu- 
tenant, the Duke of Richmond. The motion was 
carried, and other meetings for a similar purpose 
were held elsewhere. At all these meetings O'Con- 
nell was the chief speaker. He was, indeed, the 
heart and soul of the agitation. His energy was 
amazing, and only equalled by his enthusiasm. He 
had recently moved into a new house, No. 30 (now 
58) Merrion Square, South ; but not a detail in the 
furnishing of it that could add to the comfort of his 
wife escaped his personal supervision. Busy all day 



38 Daniel O'Comiell. [1803- 

long, either on circuit, or in the law-courts, he could 
still find time to arrange meetings, draw up resolu- 
tions, make speeches and in short direct the whole 
business of the Catholics, struggling ceaselessly to 
arouse his countrymen from their torpor. 

The principle of appointing managers, though at- 
tacked, had prevailed. Was it possible to extend 
the principle still further without running foul of 
the Convention Act ? At any rate it was worth try- 
ing. Anything, in O'Connell's opinion, was better 
than stagnation — even prosecution. Accordingly at 
a general meeting held in Fishamble Street theatre, 
on 9th July, for the purpose of appointing a Com- 
mittee to prepare the Catholic petition, it was re- 
solved that the said Committee do consist of the 
Catholic peers and their eldest sons, the Catholic 
baronets, the prelates of the Catholic Church in Ire- 
land, ten persons to be appointed by the Catholics 
in each county in Ireland, and also of five persons to 
be appointed by the Catholic inhabitants of each 
parish in Dublin. O'Connell, who was suffering 
from a slight indisposition, and spoke with difficulty, 
confined himself to a few remarks. In the propriety 
of the step they were about to take, he expressed 
his entire concurrence, especially in so far as it went 
to give the people the free, unbiassed, and constitu- 
tional right of selecting a Committee. He consid- 
ered it a justifiable experiment, and cheerfully 
offered himself as the first victim of a legal prosecu- 
tion. If any one parish in the city of Dublin would 
do him the honour of electing him to represent 
them in the common council, he was ready to give 



1812] h^ eland After the Union. 39 

bail and let the legal question, arising on the con- 
struction of the statute, be thus settled. 

Government accepted the challenge. On 2d Au- 
gust a proclamation was issued pronouncing such 
elections to be illegal, and ten days later a number of 
gentlemen who had taken part in them were arrested 
on the warrant of Chief-Justice Downes. The trial 
was appointed for November. On 19th October 
the Catholic Committee, as reconstituted, assem- 
bled in Fishamble Street theatre. The business of 
the meeting had been concluded, and the members 
were already dispersing when two police magistrates 
appeared on the scene. Their object was unmistak- 
able ; but this time they had arrived too late. On 
2 1st November began the trial of Dr. Edward Sheri- 
dan, one of the gentlemen concerned in the illegal elec- 
tions. Though not leading counsel in the case, the 
plan of the defence had been arranged by O'Con- 
nell. The case for the prosecution turned upon the 
construction to be placed on the words in the Con- 
vention Act " undtr pretence of petitioning," which it 
was agreed meant purpose. The defence admitted 
that the meeting was for the bona fide purpose of 
petitioning, that there was no pretence about it, and 
therefore did not fall within the ban of the Act. 
In charging the jury Chief-Justice Downes let it 
clearly be seen that, whatever construction the words 
were capable of, in his opinion the Committee, in its 
new shape, was an illegal assembly within the mean- 
ing of the Act ; but the jury took the opposite view 
and acquitted Dr. Sheridan. 

The victory of the Catholics was, however, short- 



40 Daniel O^ Connell. [1803- 

lived. A counter-prosecution against Chief-Justice 
Downes for illegal arrest failed ; and on reassem- 
bling in Fishamble Street theatre on 23d December 
the Committee found the room in possession of a 
police magistrate. A scene of intense excitement 
followed. Requesting to be informed if the meet- 
ing was that of the Catholic Committee, but obtain- 
ing no direct answer to his question, the magistrate 
took it upon himself to decide that it was, and 
ordered it instantly to disperse. Failing, however, 
to induce the chairman, Lord Fingal, to leave the 
chair, he forcibly removed him by gently pushing 
him from it. The meeting, thereupon, voted the 
Hon. Thomas Barnwall into his place ; but, yielding 
to the advice of Sir Edward Bellew, immediately 
afterwards quietly separated. Some of the members 
then proceeded to the Crown and Anchor tavern, 
whither the indefatigable police magistrate followed 
them, but retired without further molesting them 
on learning that they had met in their individual 
capacity. It was clear that the Duke of Richmond 
and Mr. Wellesley Pole were in earnest this time. 
They had failed to convict Dr. Sheridan ; but they 
had defeated the attack on Chief-Justice Downes, 
they had dispersed the Committee, and in January of 
the following year, 18 12, they managed to secure the 
conviction of Mr. Thomas Kirwan on a similar charge 
to that preferred against Sheridan. But the resources 
of the Catholics were by no means exhausted. For 
assembling in aggregate meeting on 26th December 
they entrusted the management of their affairs to 
a Catholic Board, which was, however, merely the 



1812] 



Ireland After the Union. 



41 



Catholic Committee under a new name. Their 
tactics did not deceive government ; but as the 
Board had been expressly appointed for the purpose 
of petitioning, it did not feel justified in suppressing 
it, though determined to keep a close watch on its 
proceedings. 




CHAPTER III. 

PARLIAMENT AND THE CATHOLIC CLAIMS. 
1812-1813. 

ON I ith May, 1812, a bullet fired by a madman, 
named Bellingham, cut short the life of the 
Prime Minister of England, Mr. Perceval. 
The deed sent a thrill of horror through the country ; 
but it was not without a certain feeling of relief that 
men saw an end put to one of the most bigoted and 
reactionary administrations of modern times. 

" For my part," said O'Connell, " I feel unaffected 
horror at his fate, and all trace of resentment for his 
crimes is obliterated ; but I do not forget that he was a 
narrow-minded bigot, a paltry statesman, and a bad min- 
ister ; that every species of public corruption and profli- 
gacy had in him a flippant and pert advocate ; that every 
advance towards reform or economy had in him a de- 
cided enemy ; and that the liberties of the people were 
the object of his derision." 

Surely now, however, thought the Catholics, now 
that his baneful influence was removed, the Regent 

42 



[1812-13] Parliament and Catholic Claims. 43 

would have the courage, as he was long supposed to 
have the will, to free himself from his father's ser- 
vants and, mindful of his old promises, promises often 
repeated, call round him more liberal-minded men. 

The fond delusion was soon dispelled. His re- 
fusal to admit a deputation of Catholics to a personal 
interview, and the reconstruction of an administra- 
tion on lines avowedly hostile to their claims, was 
evidence sufificient to convince the blindest that no 
considerations of honour would induce the Prince to 
run the slightest risk on their behalf. The indigna- 
tion of the Catholics found vent in the famous 
" witchery resolutions," — a thinly veiled attack on 
the Regent's liaison with Lady Hertford — at an 
aggregate meeting on i8th June. 

"We learn," said the Cathohcs, "with deep disap- 
pointment and anguish, how cruelly the promised boon 
of Catholic freedom has been intercepted by the fatal 
witchery of an unworthy secret influence, hostile to our 
fairest hopes, spurning alike the sanctions of public and 
private virtue, the demands of personal gratitude, and 
the sacred obligations of plighted honour. To this im- 
pure source we trace, but too distinctly, our afflicted 
hopes and protracted servitude, the arrogant invasion of 
the undoubted right of petitioning, the acrimony of 
illegal state prosecutions, the surrender of Ireland to 
prolonged oppression, and the insult and the many ex- 
periments, equally pitiful and perilous, recently practised 
upon the habitual passiveness of an ill-treated but high- 
spirited people." 

What the resolutions lacked in direct application 
was supplied by O'Connell, whose indictment of the 



44 Daniel O^ Connell. [|812- 

Regent created an extraordinary sensation. But 
what would have been the violence of O'Connell's 
language had it been known, as it now is, that the 
Duke of Richmond and Wellesley Pole in dispersing 
the Committee had been merely acting on the secret 
instructions of the Regent himself? 

It was a petulant and even foolish explosion of 
wrath, natural enough perhaps under the circum- 
stances, but calculated to do harm by creating fresh 
obstacles in the way of emancipation. But the set- 
tlement of the Catholic question had now become a 
matter of political expediency. It was a disturbing 
element in English politics. It, and it alone, had 
prevented Canning and Wellesley accepting office in 
the new administration at a time when the strain 
placed upon England by the war with France called 
for unanimity and vigorous action at home. The 
question must therefore be settled without further 
delay. Public opinion in Ireland was divided as to 
the terms of the settlement. It should therefore be 
settled without reference to Irish opinion, and solely 
on the grounds of Imperial policy. Accordingly on 
22d June the House of Commons, on the motion of 
Canning, pledged itself by 235 to 106 to take into its 
consideration in the following session the laws affect- 
ing the Roman Catholics. 

The announcement was hailed with lively satis- 
faction in Ireland. The Catholics, said O'Connell, 
speaking at an aggregate meeting on 2d July, had 
reached a momentous period in their history. Thrice 
before had emancipation seemed within their grasp ; 
thrice had it eluded them — in 1793, when they failed 



V 



1813] Parliament and the Catholic Claims. 45 

from timidity ; in 1800, when they rejected it as the 
price of their nationahty ; in 1806, when they al- 
lowed themselves to be deluded by the good inten- 
tions of the Whigs. From these errors of the past 
their conduct now should be free. Their course 
was plain and simple. It consisted, not in relaxing, 
but in redoubling their efforts ; in pressing forward 
as a people should do who deserved liberty. Under 
the banner of " Simple Repeal " Ireland had once 
before triumphed gloriously. It was a motto of 
good omen. Let "Simple Repeal" be re-echoed 
from north to south, from east to west, and should 
they again fail they would at least have the consola- 
tion of knowing that they had deserved success. At 
Limerick, on 24th July, during the assizes, his lan- 
guage was even more direct. Nothing, he declared, 
would satisfy the Catholics but their absolute and un- 
qualified emancipation. The talk about securities as 
the price of their freedom was a base and dastardly 
insult upon their understanding, and they would 
have none of it. 

Wherever he spoke — at Dublin, at Limerick, at 
Cork — his words were cheered to the echo. But 
cheers alone, he reminded his audience, would never 
lead to victory. He knew well the nature of his 
countrymen — how soon they were moved to en- 
thusiasm, how quickly their enthusiasm evaporated 
before the stern realities of every-day life. It was 
easy, he used to say, to tell a Catholic in the streets 
by his subdued demeanour and crouching walk. So 
deeply had the iron of oppression entered their souls 
that, in order to curry favour with their Protestant 



46 Daniel O' Connell. [I812- 

neighbours, they would surrender their most sacred 
rights, allow themselves to be driven like ani- 
mals to the polling booths to vote for their bitterest 
enemy, nay, even to consent to prostitute the virtue 
of their wives and daughters to the pleasure of their 
hereditary masters. A pitiful picture, truly, but one 
which only faintly outlines the depth of the de- 
gradation to which the bulk of his countrymen had 
sunk. And yet out of such unpromising material, 
out of a nation of slaves, would O'Connell create a 
nation of freemen. 

" Hereditary bondsmen ! know ye not, 
Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow ? " 

This was the constant refrain of all his speeches : 
for the reader of them now repeated ad nauseam. 
But O'Connell had no hesitation in repeating him- 
self. " It is not," he said, 

*' by advancing a political truth once, or twice, or even 
ten times, that the public will take it up and firmly adopt 
it. Incessant repetition is required to impress political 
truths upon the public mind. Men, by always hearing 
the same things, insensibly associate them with received 
truisms. They find the facts at last quietly reposing in a 
corner of their minds, and no more think of doubting 
them than if they formed part of their religious belief." 

In truth, O'Connell had only one lesson to teach ; 
but, once learned, what a change, what a revolution 
would it effect in the lives and thoughts of Irish- 
men ! Would they ever learn '' themselves to strike 
the blow?" Would they ever have the courage to 
cast off the shackles of a degrading servitude that 



1813] Parliament and the Catholic Claims. 47 

lowered them to the level of beasts, and learn to 
stand erect like men ? The time was coming. As 
yet the agitation had only touched the wealthier 
middle class ; the bulk of the nation lay steeped in 
apathy and despair. 

Parliament was dissolved on 29th September. The 
results of the elections in Ireland during the autumn 
confirmed O'Connell's apprehensions. At Cork, 
where he had recently spoken amid wild applause, 
the apathy of the Catholics had lost one of their 
staunchest supporters, Christopher Hely Hutchinson, 
his seat ; at Newry private and personal interests had 
prevailed with the Catholics to return an Orangeman, 
and elsewhere the recreancy and cowardice of wealthy 
members of their body had told with damaging ef- 
fect against their cause. The indignation of the 
Board was intense, and despite the warning voice of 
O'Connell that they were investing themselves with 
the powers of an irresponsible inquisition, and scat- 
tering the seeds of discord widespread, a motion was 
passed on 28th November, declaring that such persons 
as had deserted the tried friends of the Catholics at 
the late general election were no longer deserving of 
their confidence. The resolution, as O'Connell pre- 
dicted, only served to aggravate the situation by 
causing a split in the Board itself. '* One would im- 
agine," said he, " that we really were at a loss for 
enemies, so sedulous do we appear to be to excite 
them among ourselves. One would suppose that 
Ireland was not sufficiently divided and distracted 
already, but that division and dissension in the 
CathoHc Board could be afforded in addition and as a 



48 Daniel O' Comiell. [1812- 

pastime." After working infinite mischief, the reso- 
lution was, at his earnest entreaty, subsequently 
rescinded. 

Meanwhile the friends of the Catholics in Parlia- 
ment were employing their time in preparing a bill 
which, if it did not extend to a final adjustment of 
the question, was thought to embody all those 
claims which the Protestants were at all likely under 
existing circumstances to concede. What those cir- 
cumstances were, the reader will easily recall for him- 
self. In 18 1 2 Napoleon was at the height of his power, 
and the head of the Roman Church a prisoner in 
his hands. What might happen if Pius VII., or his 
successor, should lend himself to promote the ambi- 
tious designs of the Emperor of the French ? The 
danger was perhaps more imaginary than real ; but 
at least it was intelligible. The world had yet to 
learn that if in spiritual matters the Pope could com- 
mand the implicit and unquestioning obedience of 
every Irish Roman Catholic, in temporal matters, 
in affairs touching his political rights, he was an ab- 
solute cipher. In admitting the Catholics, and es- 
pecially the Irish Catholics, within the pale of the 
constitution the majority of Englishmen and Scotch- 
men believed, and conscientiously believed, that they 
were putting into the hands of their deadliest enemy 
a weapon to destroy the constitution itself. They 
remembered the days of Queen Mary, the massacre 
of St. Bartholomew, the Spanish Armada, the Irish 
massacres of 1641, the attempt of James II. to sub- 
vert the constitution, the persecutions of Tyrconnell, 
the rebellion of 1798 ; they forgot the anti-papal 



1813] Parliament and the Catholic Claims. 49 

legislation of pre-Reformation times, the loyalty of 
the Catholics at the most critical periods of their 
history, the wars of extermination against the Irish 
that had led to the rising in '41, the ecclesiastical 
tyranny of the Puritans, the transplantations and 
transportations of the Commonwealth, the deporta- 
tions and sequestrations under the penal code, the 
fiendish outrages of the Orangemen, the picketings, 
the half-hangings that had driven the most abject 
peasantry in the world to take up arms in their own 
defence. They saw only the result ; they overlooked 
the causes that had given birth to it. Visions of a 
popish rising still occupied their imagination. They 
believed that the concession of the Catholic claims 
would only lead to the establishment of a Catholic 
tyranny, and that themselves, from being the oppres- 
sors, would become the oppressed. They did not be- 
lieve that national independence was as dear to the 
Catholic as it was to the Protestant. It is unwise to 
sneer at their fears. Toleration is a plant of slow 
growth. Perhaps in an Irish parliament these fears 
would have carried less weight, and emancipation have 
already been conceded ; but the question had been 
referred to an assembly of which the great majority 
knew practically nothing of the country for which 
they were called upon to legislate. 

That an assembly so constituted should have con- 
sented to pledge itself to a revision of the laws 
affecting the Catholics with a view to their ameliora- 
tion, and on Grattan's motion to have reaffirmed its 
determination on March ist, 1813, was a great step 

forward. In its essential features the Bill to which 

4 



50 Daniel O' Connell. [1812- 

Parliament was asked to give its consent was practi- 
cally the same as that which passed into law sixteen 
years later //?/j an elaborate oath of allegiance to be 
taken by all Catholics, whether clergymen or lay- 
men. By this oath the Catholic deposed that he 
would support the Protestant succession and the 
existing state of Protestant property, would discover 
all plots and treasons which came within his know- 
ledge, would not make use of any power he obtained 
in the state either to its injury or the overthrow of 
the Protestant Church, and would assent to the 
nomination of no Catholic bishop or apostolic vicar 
of whose loyalty and tranquil disposition he was not 
convinced. The Bill was read a first time on 30th 
April, and the serious consideration of it deferred for 
a fortnight. In the interval it underwent a serious 
alteration. For the security offered by the above 
oath, seeming to Canning hardly stringent enough to 
conciliate the more timorous Protestants, he per- 
suaded Grattan to consent to the addition of certain 
clauses establishing a board of commissioners having 
power to inspect all correspondence with Rome re- 
ferring to episcopal nominations, and to veto the ap- 
pointment of any bishop whose loyalty might be 
suspected. 

In Ireland the initial stages of the Bill were being 
watched with intense interest. The day following 
its introduction, the Catholic Board met. Reporters 
were excluded ; but a summary of its proceedings 
communicated by O'Connell appeared in the Evening 
Post on 4th May. The summary expressed his view 
of the situation. Leaving the ecclesiastical provisions 



1813J Parliament and the Catholic Claims. 51 

** where they might be safely confided — in the hands 
of the Catholic hierarchy " — and confining himself 
to its civil enactments, he pronounced the Bill to 
be restricted in principle (omitting the Protestant 
dissenters entirely from its consideration), doubtful 
in its wording, and inadequate to that full relief 
which had been expected. His conduct in trans- 
mitting the report to the newspapers was regarded 
by many as indiscreet, especially by such as, in their 
eagerness to clutch at the benefits conferred by the 
Bill, hoped by their silence to give an appearance of 
acquiescence in its provisions, and at a subsequent 
meeting of the Board an attempt was made to cen- 
sure him by submitting a resolution to the effect 
that on the date in question " no motion was enter- 
tained by the Board, relative to the Catholic Bill, 
nor any resolution adopted." This O'Connell op- 
posed on the ground that it was manifestly untrue ; 
but for the sake of harmony he offered, if anyone 
would move " that the Board has not hitherto come 
to any resolution declaratory of its sentiments on 
the Catholic Bill," to second it himself. His pro- 
posal was adopted by a small majority. But the 
dispute was symptomatic of graver dissensions in 
the near future. 

The fact was, O'Connell knew that the Board was 
divided on the question of the securities, and had 
deliberately furnished the report to the Evening Post 
with the express object of forcing the hand of the 
vetoists. No formally worded motion in condemna- 
tion of the Bill had indeed been passed by the 
Board, but the weight of opinion had been decidedly 



52 Daniel O' Connell. [I812- 

against it, and it was well that the public should 
know it. Silence at such a time was sure to be mis- 
interpreted as approbation. But it was not so much 
the civil enactments as (after the addition of the 
Canning clauses) the ecclesiastical provisions that 
troubled him. The acceptance or rejection of them 
had, as he expressed it, been left to the clergy them- 
selves, but not without a word of warning, that if 
they decided in favour of them he would still re- 
serve to himself the right of protesting against any 
measure that might tarnish the last relic of national 
independence — the last fragment of the ancient 
pride and greatness of Imperial Ireland — the inde- 
pendence of her Church. 

The warning was not neglected. On 27th May, the 
Irish prelates decided that the ecclesiastical clauses 
were utterly incompatible with the discipline of the 
Roman Catholic Church and could not be acceded to 
without incurring the guilt of schism. O'Connell 
did not try to conceal his satisfaction at the result. 
In one quarter, at least, unanimity prevailed. When 
the Board next met, on 29th May, he rose to propose 
a special vote of thanks to the bishops for their 
patriotic conduct. 

" The Catholic prelates of Ireland," said he, and his 
voice rang triumphantly through the room, " de- 
serve your eternal gratitude. They have stood forward 
manfully and without disguise to assist you in getting 
rid of a Bill which purported to be for your relief, but 
which, in reality, would have perpetuated your degra- 
dation and slavery. Had they consulted their worldly 
interest they would have supported the Bill ; but the 



1813] Parliament and the Catholic Claims, 53 

sacred calls of duty made them reject such considera- 
tions with contempt. And they were right, most mani- 
festly right, in rejecting it. Nothing but mischief and 
degradation could have resulted from the commission 
proposed in the Bill. For let them consider the proba- 
ble constitution of the proposed board of ecclesiastical 
commissioners in the hands of the Duke of Richmond — 
of that man whose administration had been signalised 
by a sullen and sulky opposition to the Catholics of 
Ireland, and whose most distinguishing characteristic 
as a chief governor was that he continued to hate the 
Papists, he knew not why nor wherefore. For president 
they might safely reckon on that ludicrous enemy of 
theirs, who had got, in jest, the name he deserved in 
good earnest of ' Orange Peel ' — a raw youth squeezed 
out of the workings of I know not what factory in Eng- 
land, and sent over to Ireland before he had got rid of 
the foppery of perfumed handkerchiefs and thin shoes, 
upon the simple ground that, having vindicated the mur- 
derous Walcheren expedition, he was thought to be a 
lad ready to vindicate anything and everything. After 
him would come my Lord Manners, a gentleman cer- 
tainly, but quite as ignorant of the wants, wishes, feel- 
ings, and dispositions of the Irish people, as he was the 
day before he arrived in the country. Too decent to 
inspire any disgust, too polite to give personal offence, 
too weak to discriminate between the artful misrepre- 
sentations of bigotry and the plain language of truth, 
with the natural propensity of a small mind to the 
practical details of intolerance, he was in fact such a 
man as bigotry would select as her choicest instrument. 
With him was sure to be associated his Grace the Duke 
of Richmond's special adviser in ecclesiastical affairs, 
the Right Hon. Dr. Duigenan, appointed for no other 



54 Daniel O' Connell. [1812- 

reason than being, like the tanner's dog, chained up by 
day and let loose by night, he was particularly fitted for 
the task of worrying popish bishops. Nor was William 
Saurin, the Attorney-General, likely to be wanting, and 
what a day would that be for Ireland when the grand- 
son of a French Huguenot should sit in judgment on 
the Catholic hierarchy of the land ! From this disgrace 
the bishops had saved them, and theirs, without any 
regard to the event, should be the praise and 
glory.'' 

As a matter of fact, the action of the Catholic 
episcopacy had nothing whatever to do with the 
defeat of the Bill, which had been dropped in con- 
sequence of the rejection in committee of the first 
clause in it, admitting the Catholics to sit in Parlia- 
ment, two days before the bishops had pronounced 
against it. But in his strictures on the probable 
constitution and action of the commission O'Connell 
hit the nail directly on the head. " I perceive," 
wrote Peel to the Duke of Richmond on 2ist May, 
'' that the Chief Secretary is made President of 
the Catholic Cabinet which his Majesty is in future 
to have, and in his absence the senior Privy Council- 
lor ; so that it is possible Dr. Duigenan may pre- 
side." Better evidence as to the insidious character 
of the Bill O'Connell could not have desired. But 
the Board was hard to convince. The loaves and 
fishes of office were a bait too tempting to be re- 
sisted by many. Despite O'Connell's exhortations 
to unanimity, they insisted on dividing, and it was 
only after a fierce struggle that the vote of thanks 
to the bishops was carried by 6i to 20. 




SIR ROBERT PEEL 

FROM A PAINTING BY JOHN LINNELL, IN THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY 



1813] Parliament and the Catholic Claims. 55 

The die was cast. Henceforth there could be no 
question of a compromise. The battle of the securi- 
ties must be fought out till one side or the other 
gave way. From that day forward the party that 
favoured the veto ceased to attend the meetings of 
the Board, and wM*th their withdrawal the prospect of 
immediate emancipation receded into the distance. 
It was a bitter draught to drink, and no man felt the 
bitterness of it more than did O'Connell. On his 
devoted head fell all the abuse and contumely of 
disappointed ambition. But not for one moment 
did he quail before the storm of angry passion that 
raged around him. What recked he of the animosity 
of men who for their own private advantage would 
have compromised the independence of their Church 
— "of men who discounted their consciences and 
obtained money by their pretensions of piety " ? 

The Bill was gone— for that he thanked God ; 
but the star of hope still shone, and emancipation, 
if deferred for a time, would come, when it came, 
without any such disgraceful conditions. That come 
it must, he never for a moment doubted. " Yes," 
he assured the great assembly of his countrymen 
that, at his invitation, met together in Fishamble 
Street theatre on 15th June, to render thanks for 
their deliverance, and to renew their petition for the 
total and unqualified repeal of the penal laws, — 

" Yes, the hour of your emancipation is at hand ; you 
will, you must be, emancipated, not by the operation of 
any force or violence, which is unnecessary, and would be 
illegal on your part ; but by the repetition of your con- 
stitutional demands by petition, and still more by the 



56 Daniel O' Cojiiiell. [I812- 

pressure of circumstances and the great progress of 
events." 

Meanwhile, let their rulers delay emancipation but 
yet a little while, let them allow their discussions to 
continue, let them suffer their agitators to proceed, 
let the love of country and even the desire of 
notoriety be permitted to excite fresh agitators, and 
above all, let the popular mind become accustomed 
to the consideration of public subjects and to the 
vehemence of political contest, and they knew little 
of human nature who imagined that with a breath 
they could still the tempest they should thus have 
excited, or be able to quiet a people whom they 
should thus have roused to a sense of their wrongs 
and to a knowledge of their own strength and im- 
portance. Their ultimate triumph rested with them- 
selves. Nothing but their own folly or crime could 
withhold it from them. But alas for Ireland ! 
Her liberties depended upon the prudence of a 
people of the most inflammable passions, goaded 
almost to madness by Orange insults and oppressions, 
and exposed at the same time to the secret seduc- 
tions of the agents and emissaries of those very 
Orange oppressors. Let them yield to these seduc- 
tions, let them commit a single crime, a single illegal 
act, and the Habeas Corpus Act would again be 
suspended, the reign of torture and of terror would 
again be renewed, and the cause of Ireland would be 
lost, and lost for ever. For himself, he would tell 
them that, should ever that fatal day arrive, they 
would find him arrayed against them. There would 
not be so heavy a heart ; but there would not be 



1813] Parliament and the Catholic Claims. 57 

a more ready hand to sustain the constitution 
against every enemy. 

It was a memorable — an epoch-making — speech in 
the history of Ireland. Often enough before had 
Irishmen heard their wrongs dilated upon with the 
object of urging them into deeds of violence and of 
seeking vengeance with their own hands. Often 
had the example of revolutionary France been held 
up before them as worthy of imitation. It was 
something new to be told that however grievous 
their wrongs, however intolerable their grievances, 
yet, for the sake of the constitution they must learn 
to bear them like men, seeking for redress only by 
such means and through such channels as were 
afforded by the constitution itself. Burke and Grat- 
tan, it is true, had preached the same doctrine, but 
their words had reached the few and educated only. 
O'Connell had another audience before him. He 
was speaking to the Irish nation, to a nation sorely 
tried by oppression, yet struggling under grievous 
disadvantages towards unity and freedom. To him, 
it was no mere question of theoretical politics, but a 
matter of hfe and death. None knew better than he 
did how prone his countrymen were to deeds of vio- 
lence ; but he knew the power of England as well, and 
the benefits of the connection with her. Not separa- 
tion — the charge that he wished for separation was 
" false as hell " ; but admission into the constitution 
and the restoration of national independence were 
what he wanted. Let his countrymen cease from 
vainly appealing to the sword, from midnight con- 
spiracies, from brutal murders and houghing of 



58 



Daniel O' Connell. 



[1812-1813] 



harmless animals ; let them learn to reverence the 
constitution, to respect the law, and as surely as the 
sun would rise to-morrow so, in the course of events, 
would their freedom be realised ; and not their 
freedom only, but their national independence as 
well. It was a strange speech to issue from the lips 
of a " professional agitator," and all the stranger 
when one recalls the circumstances under which it 
was delivered. 




CHAPTER IV. 

IN DEFENCE OF THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS. 



1813. 

OF all the weapons in the arsenal of constitu- 
tional agitation, the most powerful is un- 
doubtedly that of the journalistic press. A 
free press is at once the sign and guarantee of free 
government. It is the very conscience of a nation. 
To bridle it or to corrupt it is an act of despotism so 
atrocious as to deserve the execration of civilisation. 
Fortunately, it is also an act of which despotism 
alone is capable ; for where the forms, at least, of 
constitutional government are respected, however 
much the spirit of it may be violated, it is impossible 
altogether to destroy the independence of the press. 
That in Ireland, where government has more often 
than not found itself in direct antagonism to the 
wishes of the bulk of the population, the corruption 
of the press should have formed a principal means of 
controlling public opinion is unfortunately only too 
true. Equally true is it that government has seldom 
been at a loss to find instruments like the notorious 
" Sham Squire," the associate of spies and informers, 

59 



6o Daniel ' Co7inell. 



[1813 



ready, for this or that consideration, to prostitute 
their abihties in its service. On the other hand 
there have not been wanting journaHsts, who have 
never worshipped in the house of Rimmon, who 
have never forfeited their title to self-respect, who 
through good and ill report, through fine and im- 
prisonment, have never faltered in the path of duty. 
Of such was John Magee, the elder, the founder, 
proprietor, and editor of the Dublin Evening Post^ 
a newspaper which, with perhaps the largest cir- 
culation of any in Ireland, had advocated with 
unprecedented fearlessness the cause of national 
independence in the days preceding the Union, and 
which, now in the hands of his son, had become the 
chief organ of Roman Catholic opinion. 

On 3d June, the Eventing Post announced to its 
readers that its proprietor had been committed to 
Kilmainham gaol on a charge of publishing a libel 
against the Duke of Richmond. This, the paper 
reminded its readers, was the third Dublin printer 
that had been imprisoned under his Grace's '' con- 
ciliatory government." The announcement created 
an extraordinary sensation. Everyone guessed that 
the alleged libel was a mere pretext for a determined 
effort on the part of the government to silence the 
chief organ of the Catholic party; and the guess, as 
now appears from Peel's secret correspondence with 
the Speaker of the House of Commons, hit the 
mark. The article for which Magee was to be 
prosecuted was the work of a prominent member of 
the Catholic Board, Dennis Scully, the author of an 
important work on the penal laws, and of whom it 



1813] The Liberty of the Press. 6i 

was said that he was so much of a lawyer that " he 
could not take his tea without a stratagem." It con- 
sisted of nine columns in three successive numbers 
of the Evening Post J and purported to be a review of 
the Duke of Richmond's administration, with the 
object of warning his successor from pursuing the 
errors of his Grace's conduct. The device was an 
old one for airing the nation's grievances, and one 
which Grattan himself, as every reader of Bara- 
tariana knows, had in early days practised against 
the Marquis of Harcourt in language far more 
scathing than anything that ever issued from Dennis 
Scully's pen. For the prosecution, William Saurin, 
the Attorney-General, and for upwards of a quarter 
of a century the virtual ruler of Ireland, was re- 
sponsible. 

Saurin, the descendant of a Huguenot refugee, 
was a sound lawyer. Without possessing superior 
abilities of any sort, he had raised himself by studi- 
ous application to the top of his profession. He 
had waited long for promotion. His early career 
had been one of hardship and disappointment. In 
his opposition to the Union he had proceeded to 
such lengths as to incur the censure of the Marquis 
Cornwallis, and narrowly to escape the loss of his 
silk gown. But after the Union his conduct had 
been most exemplary, and his reward had been pro- 
portionate to his loyalty. Men wondered at the 
completeness of his conversion ; but there was really 
little cause for wonder. The man who had threat- 
ened to raise a rebellion rather than submit to the 
extinction of the national legislature was the same 



62 Daniel O'Connell. li813 

who was now prosecuting John Magee, and seeking 
by every means within his power to suppress the 
Catholic agitation. His opinions had not changed 
one iota. He was just as good a patriot in 1813 
as he had been in 1799 ; for his patriotism had never 
gone so far as to include the Roman Catholics. He 
was an ascendancy man pure and simple, and had 
been so all his life. To say that he hated the Catho- 
lics individually is perhaps doing him injustice; 
he rather pitied and despised them. But he hated 
Roman Catholicism with a fierce and bitter hatred, 
because he feared it. Protestantism, in his opinion, 
was synonymous with liberty, Catholicism with 
slavery. To tolerate Catholicism was to palter with 
his conscience and to betray the cause of truth and 
righteousness. Beliefs such as these naturally ren- 
dered him a formidable antagonist to the Catholics, 
while the high and indeed irreproachable character 
he bore in private life added a dignity to the narrow- 
ness of his creed, and gave to his opinions an 
overwhelming influence with his colleagues in the 
administration. 

Such was the man who had urged the prosecu- 
tion of the editor of the Evening Post, and it was 
with a certain grim pleasure that he now undertook 
the task incumbent upon him, as Attorney-General, 
of crushing his victim. Of the result he had no 
doubt, and indeed, so far as it was possible, without 
absolutely overriding the law itself, he had taken 
every precaution before the trial commenced to se- 
cure a conviction. In fact, with Judge Downes on 
the bench, and a well-packed jury of Orangemen, 



1813] The Liberty of the Press. 63 

there could hardly be any reasonable doubt as to 
what the result would be. But this was not to 
prove an ordinary trial. On both sides there was a 
formidable array of counsel, but the defence rested 
practically with O'Connell, as the prosecution with 
the Attorney-General. Both Magee and O'Connell 
knew that unless a miracle was worked a conviction 
was absolutely certain. To conciliate the jury was 
merely wasted energy, but the opportunity of at- 
tacking the Attorney-General, and through him the 
government, whose mouthpiece he was, and of vin- 
dicating the Catholic claims, was one not to be lost. 
The trial began on 26th July, and lasted two days. 
Each day, long before the hour when Chief-Justice 
Downes took his seat, the Court of King's Bench 
was crowded to suffocation. It was shortly after 
eleven o'clock on the second day that O'Connell 
rose to address the jury. 

He had, he said, consented to the adjournment 
the previous day out of a natural impulse to post- 
pone a painful duty. Still he did not regret the de- 
lay. The farrago of helpless absurdity with which 
the Attorney-General had regaled them, and which 
yesterday had roused his resentment and disgust, 
now only moved him to contempt. In that dis- 
course — a confused and disjointed tissue of bigotry 
amalgamated with congenial vulgarity — the At- 
torney-General accused his client of using Billings- 
gate, and he accused him of it in language suited 
exclusively for that meridian. It was, indeed, as- 
tonishing how he could have preserved that dia- 
lect in all its native purity, seeing that for thirty 



64 Daniel O'Connell. [i8i3 

years he had had the honour to belong to the Irish 
Bar — to that Bar at which he must have listened to 
a Burston, a Ponsonby, and a Curran ; which still 
contained a Plunket, a Ball, and, despite of poHtics, 
he would add a Bushe. But, dismissing the style, 
he would ask their attention to the matter of the 
Attorney-General's discourse. The matter he would 
divide into two parts: the first, and by far the 
larger portion, relating to topics wholly irrelevant 
to the prosecution, the second, and infinitely smaller, 
relating to the subject matter of the indictment 
they were called upon to try. 

The extraneous part of his discourse, in which he 
had touched upon, and disfigured, a variety of topics, 
was distinguished by two leading features — a dull 
and reproving sermon on the way in which the de- 
fence was being conducted, and a political diatribe 
against the Catholics. For the first, he would tell 
the Attorney-General that he and his colleagues could 
cheerfully afford to pardon the vain presumption 
that made him offer them his counsel. For the rest, 
he had made it the rigid rule of his professional con- 
duct never to mingle his politics with his forensic 
duties, and if in the present instance he appeared to 
be departing from this rule, he would remind the 
jury that he was compelled to follow the Attorney- 
General into grounds which, had he been wise, he 
would carefully have avoided. It was possible he 
might have misunderstood the Attorney-General, for 
there was, he knew, no relying on his words for what 
he meant. But, as he gathered from his words, he 
had talked of the Cathohcs having imbibed principles 




y. Mk i 



1813] The Liberty of the Press. 65 

of a seditious, treasonable, and revolutionary na- 
ture. It was impossible to refute such charges in 
the language of dignity and temper ; but he was a 
profligate liar who so asserted, knowing, as he must 
do, that the whole tenor of their conduct confuted 
the assertion. For what was it they sought ? 

'' Pray, Mr. O'Connell," interrupted the Chief Just- 
ice at this point, '' pray, what can this have to do 
with the question the jury are to try? " 

" My lord," replied O'Connell, "you heard the At- 
torney-General traduce and calumniate us. You 
heard him with patience and with temper. Listen 
now to our vindication." 

What was it, he asked, that they, the Catholics, 
sought ? What was it that they incessantly and even 
clamorously petitioned for ? Why, to be allowed 
to partake of the advantages of the constitution. It 
was said they wished to destroy it. Would they, if 
they wished to overturn it, exert themselves, through 
calumny and in peril, to obtain a portion of its bless- 
ings? Strange, inconsistent voice of calumny ! The 
Attorney-General — "" that wisest and best of men," 
as his colleague the Solicitor-General called him in 
his presence — the Attorney-General boasted of his 
triumph over Pope and popery. " I have put down 
the Catholic Committee," said he ; ''I will put 
down, at my own good time, the Catholic Board." 
The boast was partly historical, partly prophetical. 
He was wrong in his history, and mistaken in his 
prophecy. He did not put down the Catholic Com- 
mittee. We ourselves gave up that name the moment 
that it was confessed that the Attorney-Generars 



66 Daniel O' ConnelL nsia 

polemico-legal controversy had dwindled into a 
mere dispute about words. He told us that in the 
English language ''pretence" meant *' purpose." Had 
it been French, we might have ventured to respect 
his judgment ; but in point of English we presumed 
to differ with him. We told him " purpose," good 
Mr. Attorney-General, is just the reverse of " pre- 
tence." The quarrel grew warm and animated. We 
appealed to common-sense, to the grammar, and to 
the dictionary. Common-sense, grammar, and the 
dictionary decided in our favour. He brought his 
appeal to this court, and his lordship and your 
brethren, gentlemen of the jury, decided that in 
point of law '* pretence " does mean " purpose." 

Next " this wisest and best of men " glorifies him- 
self in the prospect of pulling down the Catholic 
Board. For the present, indeed, he tells you that, 
much as he hates the Papists, it is unnecessary for 
him to crush our Board, because it serves only to 
damage their cause. He expresses the very idea of 
the Roman Domitian, who amused his days by tor- 
turing men, his evenings by impaling flies. '' Fool," 
said he, to a courtier that caught a fly for his amuse- 
ment — " fool, to give thyself so much trouble : seest 
thou not that it was about to burn itself to death in 
the candle?" "Oh! rare Attorney-General! Oh! 
best and wisest of men ! Illegal violence, it is true, 
may put down the Board ; force may effectuate it ; 
but your hopes and his will be defeated if he at- 
tempts it by any course of law. His religious preju- 
dices obscure his reason. I tell him he knows not 
the law if he thinks as he says ; and if he thinks so, 



I 



1813] The Liberty of the Press. 67 

I tell him, to his beard, that he is not honest in not 
having sooner prosecuted us, and I challenge him to 
that prosecution." 

But, to come to the subject of the indictment. The 
libel of which his client was charged was not a libel 
against the Duke of Richmond in his private capac- 
ity ; it was not a seditious libel ; and it was not al- 
leged to be false. He would trouble them with a 
few reflections on the law of libel. It was deeply to 
be lamented that the art of printing was unknown at 
an earlier period of history. If at the time when the 
barons wrung the Magna Charta — that simple but 
sublime charter of liberty — from a timid and perfid- 
ious sovereign the press had existed, it would surely 
have been the first care of those friends of freedom 
to have established a principle of liberty for it to rest 
upon which might resist every future assault. Their 
simple and unsophisticated understandings could 
never have been brought to comprehend the legal 
subtleties by which it was argued that falsehood is 
useful and innocent, and truth, the emanation and 
the type of heaven, a crime. Unfortunately, when 
the art of printing had been invented, its value to 
every sufferer, its terror to every oppressor, was soon 
obvious, and means were speedily adopted to pre- 
vent its salutary effects. The Star Chamber was 
either created, or at least enlarged and brought into 
activity. It was particularly vigilant over the infant 
struggles of the press. A code of laws became neces- 
sary to govern the new enemy to prejudice and op- 
pression. For this purpose it adopted the civil law, 
the law of Rome, not the law at the period of her 



68 Daniel O^Connell. [1813 

liberty and glory, but the law which was promul- 
gated when she fell into slavery and disgrace, and 
recognised the principle that the will of the prince 
was the rule of law. From the Star Chamber the 
prevention and punishment of libels descended to 
the courts of common law, and with the power they 
seemed to have inherited much of the spirit of that 
tribunal. Servility at the bar and profligacy on the 
bench had not been wanting to aid every construc- 
tion unfavourable to freedom, and at length it was 
taken as granted, and as clear law, that truth and false- 
hood were quite immaterial circumstances, constitut- 
ing no part of either guilt or innocence. It was a 
revolting doctrine, and though his own opinion car- 
ried little weight, he would say that in the discussion 
of public subjects and of the administration of pub- 
lic men truth was a duty and not a crime. 

Such a discussion was the alleged libel against the 
Duke of Richmond, which they were to consider sen- 
tence by sentence. The Attorney-General had at- 
tached much importance to the following paragraph : 

" If the administration of the Duke of Richmond had 
been conducted with more than ordinary talent, its 
errors might in some degree have been atoned for by 
its ability, and the people of Ireland, though they might 
have much to regret, yet would have something to ad- 
mire ; but truly, after the gravest consideration, they 
must find themselves at a loss to discover any striking 
feature in his Grace's administration that makes it 
superior to the worst of his predecessors." 

He had been told that the mischief lay in the art of 
the sentence. Why, all that it asserted was that it 



1813] The Liberty of the Press. 69 

was difficult to discover the striking features that 
distinguished the Duke of Richmond's administra- 
tion from former bad administrations. In the 
writer's opinion it was an untalented and silly ad- 
ministration. The view might be false and mis- 
taken, but it was no crime to say so. And if it was 
true, if it had been a foolish administration, could it 
be an offence to say so? Was the liberty of the 
press, about which the Attorney-General had dis- 
canted, to be confined to flattery? 

*' They," that is to say the Duke's predecessors, 
not the Duke himself, as the Attorney-General 
ludicrously asserted, *' they insulted, they oppressed, 
they murdered, and they deceived." Was not this a 
mere statement of historical facts ? He would refer 
them to Leland and Hume. How had these histori- 
ans spoken of the conduct of the Earl of Essex 
towards Phelim O'Neill, of Lord Grey towards the 
garrison at Smerwick, of Strafford in the matter of 
the defective titles? Had the publishers of Leland 
and Hume been prosecuted for libel ? Was his client 
to be convicted for saying of the Duke of Richmond 
that he had neither great crimes nor great virtues : 
that he did not murder like Essex and Grey, but 
also did not render any splendid services like 
them? 

" The profligate, unprincipled Westmoreland." 
Some of the jury, he noticed, were Bible distributors 
and suppressors of vice. He would address him- 
self to them. What would they call profligacy ? 
Suppose the peerage was exposed to sale, set up at 
open auction at a time when it was a judicial office; 



JO Daniel O^ ComielL [i8i3 

if pensions were multiplied beyond bounds and be- 
yond exaniple ; if places were augmented until in- 
vention was exhausted, and these were subdivided 
and spHt into halves so that two might take the 
emoluments of each and no person do the duty ; if 
these acts were resorted to in order to corrupt their 
representatives, would they, the gentle suppressors 
of vice, call that profligacy? If the father of child- 
ren selected in the open day his guilty paramour ; 
if the wedded mother of children displayed her 
crime unblushingly ; if the assent of the titled or un- 
titled wittol to his own shame was purchased with 
the people's money ; if these scenes were enacted in 
the open day, would sweet distributors of Bibles call 
that profligacy? If not, then let them convict John 
Magee because he published that Westmoreland was 
profligate and unprincipled as a Lord-Lieutenant, and 
then return to their distribution of Bibles and their 
attacks upon the recreations of the poor under the 
name of vices. 

" The cold-hearted and cruel Camden." Ah! he 
knew he had their prejudices against him, for it was 
under Camden's administration that their faction had 
been cherished and strengthened. Still, he would 
say the cold and cruel Camden. On one circuit dur- 
ing his administration there were one hundred individ- 
uals tried before one judge: of these ninety-eight were 
capitally convicted and ninety-seven hanged. One 
only escaped ; but he was a soldier, who had murdered 
a peasant or done something equally trivial. Had 
they ever heard of Abercromby, the valiant and good, 
of Moore, the soldier and scholar — the soul of reason 



1813] The Liberty of the Press. 71 

and the heart of pity? Both were in Ireland under 
Camden, both had recorded their opinion of his ad- 
ministration. Let them on their oaths dare to con- 
tradict Abercromby and they would convict not his 
client but themselves of the foul crime of perjury. 

'■'■ The artful and treacherous Cornwallis." Was it, 
he asked, necessary to prove that the Union was ef- 
fectuated by artifice and treachery? He would re- 
fer them to the Attorney-General, at that time plain 
William Saurin. In 1800 Mr. Saurin was charged 
with being a Jacobin on much the same lines, and 
with as much truth as he now applied it to his client. 
His reply would serve for that of Mr. Magee. " Mr. 
Saurin," said the Anti-Union of 22d March, 1800, 
" admitted that debates might sometimes produce 
agitations, but that was the price necessarily paid 
for liberty." Oh ! how he thanked the good Jew for 
that word. Yes, agitation was the price paid for 
liberty. The Catholics had paid the price, and the 
honest man refused to give them the goods. In 1800 
Mr. Saurin had preached the holy doctrine of insur- 
rection ; he had sounded the tocsin of resistance, and 
summoned the people of the land to battle against 
the Union as against usurpation : in 18 13 he indicted 
a man and called him a rufilian for speaking of the 
Union, not as usurpers, but as artful and treacherous 
men ! He besought the jury to pity the situation in 
which the Attorney-General had placed himself, and 
not to think of punishing Mr. Magee for his modera- 
tion. 

But it was said that his client had libelled the 
King by imputing to him the selection of improper 



72 Da^tiel O' Connell. [I813 

and criminal chief governors. What was this but 
the very acme of servile doctrine ? The constitution 
declared that the King could do no wrong and that 
even for his personal acts his servants were person- 
ally responsible. The Attorney-General had re- 
versed the constitution, though as a matter of fact 
there was not one word in the alleged libel that 
referred to his Majesty. 

But to pass on. Mr. Magee had published that 
the Duke of Richmond 

" came over ignorant ; he soon became prejudiced, and 
then he became intemperate. . . . His original charac- 
ter for moderation he has forfeited. . . . He has 
begun to act ; he has ceased to be a dispassionate chief 
governor. . . . He descends ; he mixes with the 
throng ; he becomes personally engaged, and having 
lost his temper calls forth his private passions to support 
his public principles ; he is no longer an indifferent 
Viceroy, but a frightful partisan of an English ministry, 
whose base passions he indulges, whose unworthy resent- 
ments he gratifies, and on whose behalf he at present 
canvasses." 

Well ! was it not perfectly true ? Had not his 
Grace canvassed on behalf of the ministry ? Was 
there a titled or untitled servant of the Castle who 
had not been despatched to the south to vote against 
the popular and for the ministerial candidate ? Was 
there a single individual within his Grace's reach 
that did not vote against Prittie and Matthew in 
Tipperary and against Hutchinson in Cork? He 
would not read to them how Mr. Hutchinson had 
treated the partisanship of the Lord-Lieutenant, 



1813] The Liberty of the Press. 73 

lest it might be supposed that he identified his 
cHent with the violent but merited reprobation 
poured out by him upon the scandalous interference 
of government in these elections. Would the At- 
torney-General, or his colleague the Solicitor-General, 
attempt to deny the Duke of Richmond's inter- 
ference in these elections ? It was as notorious as 
the sun at noon-day. For himself, he would say that 
he who used the influence of the executive to con- 
trol the choice of the representatives of the people 
violated the first principles of the constitution ; he 
was guilty of political sacrilege, and profaned the 
very sanctuary of the people's rights and liberties, 
and if he should be called a partisan it was only 
because some harsher and more appropriate term 
ought to be applied to his delinquency. 

The Attorney-General had boasted of his convic- 
tion of Mr. Kirwan. He had gloried in having got 
together a jury more subservient than in Dr. Sheri- 
dan's case. '' Me, me, adsum qui feci,'' he had ex- 
claimed in rapture ; he forgot to. add '' inea fraus 
omnisy Had he succeeded likewise in the present 
case? The jury had been shown the publication 
for which his client was being tried ; he would read 
them a paragraph in a newspaper, the publisher of 
which the Attorney-General refused to prosecute 
for libel: — " Ballybay, 4th July, 1813. A meeting of 
the Orange lodges was agreed on, in consequence 
of the manner in which the Catholics wished to have 
persecuted the loyalists in this country last year, 
when they even murdered some of them for no other 
reason than their being yeomen and Protestants." 



74 Daniel O' Conriell. [1813 

The paragraph made his blood boil. There had 
been several murders committed in the county 
Monaghan, in which Ballybay lay. The persons 
killed were Roman Catholics ; their murderers were 
Orangemen. Several of the persons accused of these 
murders were to be tried at the ensuing assizes. 
The obvious intention of that and similar para- 
graphs was to create a prejudice favourable to the 
murderers. The Attorney-General was waited on ; 
he was respectfully requested to prosecute the pub- 
lishers of the newspaper upon the terms of having 
the falsehood of these assertions first proved to him. 
He refused. The two proprietors of the newspaper, 
the Hibernian Journal, had each a pension of ;^400 
per annum, for supporting government, as it was 
called, in addition to proclamations and public 
advertisements ! 

"Would," exclaimed O'Connell, turning round to 
where Peel, the Chief Secretary, was sitting, '* would 
that I could see the man who pays the proclamation 
money and these pensions ! I would ask him whether 
this was a paper that ought to receive the money of 
the Irish people. Whether this was the legitimate 
use of the public purse." Let them contrast the 
position of Mr. Magee with that of the proprietors 
of the Hibernian Journal ; the one prosecuted with 
all the weight and influence of the Crown, the other 
pensioned by the minister of the Crown ; the one 
dragged to the bar for the sober discussion of politi- 
cal topics, the other hired to disseminate the most 
horrid calumnies. Were they going to convict Mr. 
Magee ? Was there amongst them one friend to 



1813] The Liberty of the Press. 75 

freedom ? There were amongst them men of great 
reHgious zeal, of much public piety. Were they 
sincere ? Did they believe what they professed ? 
With all their zeal, with all their piety, was there a 
conscience amongst them? If they were sincere; 
if they had a conscience, Mr. Magee confidently ex- 
pected an acquittal. But if they were not, if they 
were slaves and hypocrites, he would await their 
verdict and despise it. 

Such in meagre outlines was the speech, which it 
took O'Connell four hours to deliver — the greatest 
perhaps of all his forensic efforts. Into those four 
brief hours he poured the agony and indignation of 
a lifetime. It was the first time that it had been 
given him to get the enemies of his faith and of his 
country before him, and force them against their will 
to listen to his scathing criticism of the principles 
that had regulated and still continued to regulate 
the government of Ireland. He had told them the 
truth to their faces ; he had torn the hollow mask of 
piety from them, and revealed them to the world as 
hypocrites in religion, bankrupts in principle, cor- 
ruptors of public morality, violators of the constitu- 
tion, political assassins to whom government meant 
the preservation of iniquitous privileges for the few 
and the oppression of the many. And his words 
had gone home to the Judge, the Jury, the Attorney- 
General and the government as represented by the 
Chief Secretary. If Magee had been guilty of pub- 
lishing a libel, O'Connell, as Peel said, had uttered 
one even more atrocious. The price to be paid for 
it would, no doubt, be a big one. 



76 Daniel O' ComtelL [I813 

The jury returned a verdict of guilty against 
Magee ; but judgment was postponed till November. 
In the interval O'Connell's speech was published in 
pamphlet form, and so great was the interest created 
by it that ten thousand copies were disposed of on 
the day of publication. It was translated into French 
and Spanish, and a copy in the latter language pre- 
sented, it is said, to every member of the Cortes. 
There was therefore little matter for wonder that 
when Magee was called up for judgment, on 27th 
November, the Attorney-General should have urged 
the publication of the speech and Magee's approval 
of it as an aggravation of his original offence. He 
was still smarting under the recollection of O'Con- 
nell's remorseless sarcasm, and in stating his case he 
alluded to the language in which he had been ad- 
dressed as the grossest outrage to public decency 
that had occurred within the memory of man. For 
could it, he asked, be for a moment supposed that it 
was the right or privilege of a criminal brought to 
trial to waive his own defence, and to turn the indict- 
ment into an arraignment, an accusation, and an 
attack upon the character of the prosecutor, and 
that prosecutor the public officer of the law, whose 
duty it was to prosecute his crime ? For, supposing 
the criminal should be able to find in his counsel an 
accomplice of his crime, surely it could not be con- 
tended that the counsel of that criminal could derive 
any privilege from his own criminality. It was an 
unfortunate expression if he did not mean to refer 
to O'Connell as a participator in Magee's criminality. 
Anyhow, O'Connell at once construed it in that sense, 



1813] 



The Liberty of the Press. yy 



and, rising to reply, he said the Attorney-General had 
done well to treasure up his resentment since July 
in order to give utterance to it in a place which 
prevented him administering the chastisement he 
deserved. 

" Eh ! what is that you say ? " interrupted Justice 
Daly. 

'' Take care what you say, sir! " exclaimed Justice 
Osborne. " I warn you, I will not sit here and listen 
to such a speech as that which I have seen reported." 

'' Chastising the Attorney-General ! " added Justice 
Daly. ** If a criminal information was applied for 
on that word, we should be bound to grant it." 

" My lords," said O'Connell, "I meant that else- 
where thus assailed I should be carried away by my 
feelings to do that which I should regret — to go be- 
yond the law — to inflict corporal punishment for 
that offence, which I am here ready, out of considera- 
tion for the court, to pardon." 

'* I will take the opinion of the court," retorted 
Justice Osborne, '' whether you shall not be com- 
mitted." 

" Now, Mr. O'Connell," interposed Justice Day, 
pouring oil on the troubled surface, *' do you not 
perceive that, while you talk of suppressing those 
feelings, you are actually indulging them ? The 
Attorney-General could not mean you offence in the 
line of argument he pursued to enhance the punish- 
ment of your client. It is unnecessary to throw off 
or to repel aspersions that are not made." 

"My lord," replied O'Connell, *' I thank you. . . . 
But what did the Attorney-General mean when he 



J^ Daniel O' Connell. [I813 

imputed to the advocate participation in the crime 
ofthecHent?" 

" We did not," said Justice Osborne, '' understand 
him to refer to you." 

'* I did not, my lords," the Attorney-General assured 
the court. *' I certainly did not mean the gentleman. 
To state that I did would be to misrepresent my 
meaning, which had nothing to do with him." 

The admission put an end to the controversy ; but 
it did not prevent O'Connell, under colour of a legal 
argument to show why the matter stated for aggra- 
vation ought not to be allowed to affect his client, 
from giving full vent to his indignation at the At- 
torney-General's attempt to bridle the independent 
opposition of the Bar. And, indeed, so far as the 
prosecution rested on political grounds, there can 
hardly be any question that his attitude was sound 
in principle. But the violence of his language, the 
open sarcasms he levelled at the impartiahty of 
the Bench, were hardly calculated to improve the 
case of his client, and Magee, whose courage had 
been damped by confinement in Kilmainham, with- 
out consulting him instructed another of his counsel 
to disavow his speech. The Attorney-General, how- 
ever, refused to dissociate the client from his counsel, 
and Magee was condemned to pay a fine of ^500, to 
go to prison for two years, and to find security for 
his subsequent good behaviour, himself in £\QOO 
and two others, each in £^QO. 

Magee's conduct greatly distressed O'Connell, not 
merely on personal grounds, though it was mortifica- 
tion enough to have been disowned in public court, 



1813] The Liberty of the Press. 79 

but more because of its probable effects on the 
Catholic cause, as likely to increase *' dissension 
amongst the few who remain devoted in intention 
and design, at least, to the unfortunate land of our 
birth." That the Catholics had suffered a serious 
reverse was certain, and the ill-feeling to which 
O'Connell's stubborn opposition to the veto had 
given rise was intensified by what was openly spoken 
of as his mismanagement of Magee's case. So 
strongly, indeed, did the current run against him, 
that his friends felt it necessary to rally round him, 
and in order to show their unabated confidence in 
his leadership, to present him with a service of plate 
of the value of a thousand guineas. In making the 
presentation, John Finlay, a Protestant barrister, and 
an ardent friend of the Catholics, referred in eulo- 
gistic terms to O'Connell's unselfish devotion to the 
cause of his fellow-countrymen, his unwearying ac- 
tivity in their service, his consummate ability, and 
his undaunted courage in repelling the attacks of 
government on the independence of the Bar and the 
liberty of the press. Power had attempted to put 
him down ; it was their duty to support him. It had 
been said, and said with great truth, that no man 
had ever yoked his fortunes to the fate of Ireland 
who had not been ruined by the connection. It was 
their interest to uphold him — "a man spotless in the 
relations of private life, matchless in the duties of 
private friendship, beloved by every man who knows 
him, and esteemed by all who have not a prejudice 
or an interest in disliking him." 

Adapting Scott's lines, he would say — 



8o 



Daniel O'Connell. 



ri3i3] 



Let him but stand, in spite of power, 
A watchman on the lonely tower ; 
His thrilling trump will rouse the land 
When fraud or danger is at hand ; 
By him, as by a beacon light, 
The pilot must keep course aright." 




CHAPTER V. 

DUELS AND DISAPPOINTMENTS. 
1814-1820. 

MEANWHILE the battle of the Securities con- 
tinued to drag on its weary length. Both 
sides, vetoists and anti-vetoists, had appealed 
to the Pope, and early in the following year, 18 14, 
came the papal answer in the shape of a rescript 
signed by the Vice-Prefect of the Propaganda, Mon- 
signor Quarantotti, sanctioning the very Securities 
which the Irish episcopacy had pronounced to be 
incompatible with the discipline of the Roman Catho- 
lic Church. The vetoists were jubilant at the re- 
sult ; the anti-vetoists depressed beyond measure. 
'^ Is it true, sir," asked his servant of an old parish 
priest, " that the Pope has turned Orangeman ? " 
What, indeed, could one think, now that the Pope 
himself seemed to have deserted them and gone 
over to the enemy ? But the feeling of depression, 
if acute, was short-lived. On examination, it was 
found that at the date afifixed to Quarantotti's re- 
script, i6th February, 1814, the Pope, Pius VII., 
was still a prisoner in the hands of Napoleon at 

6 



82 Daniel O' Connell. 



[1814 



Fontainebleau. The discovery pointed a way out of 
the dilemma. What right, it was asked, had a mere 
clerk of the Propaganda to settle a matter of such 
grave importance on his own account ? They had 
appealed to the Pope, not to his secretary ; the 
Pope's signature was wanting, and in refusing to re- 
gard the rescript as mandatory, the Irish Catholics 
could not be charged with disobedience ; but there 
was a strong feeling abroad that, even in the event 
of the Pope assenting to the Securities, the Irish 
would be justified, on national grounds, in disobey- 
ing him. 

" If the Pope himself," exclaimed Purcell O'Gor- 
man, at a meeting of Catholics on 19th May, ''with 
all his cardinals in full council, issued a bull to the 
effect of the rescript, I should not obey it." When 
the cheers that greeted his words had died away, he 
added, " I suppose I should thereby cease to be a 
Catholic?" ''No, no!" shouted Doctor Droom- 
goole, the Duigenan of the Catholic party. " I 
am glad," resumed O'Gorman, — " I am glad that 
I may resist the Pope and Council and still be a 
member of the Catholic Church." The English 
Catholics might do as they liked ; but it was clear 
that in Ireland matters had reached a point when it 
might prove dangerous for the papacy to conspire 
further with the English ministry in trying to curtail 
the independence of the Irish clergy. Nor were the 
clergy themselves backward in asserting their na- 
tional rights. After a two days' conference at 
Maynooth, the bishops, on 27th May, unanim- 
ously resolved that, having taken into their mature 



1820] Duels and Disappoiiitinents. 83 

consideration the late rescript of the Vice-Prefect of 
the Propaganda, they were fully convinced that it 
was not mandatory. 

As for O'Connell, there was no doubt as to his 
opinion on the subject. He was, he prided him- 
self, a Catholic from conviction ; but had he been a 
Protestant or a Presbyterian his objection to papal 
interference in a matter of national importance 
could not have been more determined. '' I am," 
said he, " sincerely a Catholic ; but I am not a Pa- 
pist, and I deny the doctrine that the Pope has any 
temporal authority, directly or indirectly, in Ire- 
land." He would not believe that any of their ven- 
erated prelates could fail in their duty ; but should 
they descend from their high station to become the 
vile slaves of the clerks of the Castle, he would warn 
them betimes to look to their masters for their sup- 
port ; for the people would despise them, and would 
communicate only with some holy priest who had 
never bowed to the Dagon of power. This was 
plain speaking with a vengeance, and it did not fail 
to produce a salutary effect on the counsels of the 
papacy. At the same time, however, it exasperated 
those friends of Catholic emancipation in Parliament 
who regarded the Securities as a harmless and neces- 
sary concession to Protestant feeling in England, and 
on presenting the Catholic petition, on 24th May, 
Grattan announced that it was not his intention to 
discuss its merits that session or to move any reso- 
lution based upon it. For this decision he offered no 
explanation ; it was, as O'Connell indignantly re- 
marked, a barefaced '^ stet pro ratione voluntas^ Of 



84 Daniel O' Connell. [I814- 

course it was impossible to overlook his conduct, 
and a meeting of the Catholic Board was hastily 
summoned to consider the unexpected event, and to 
decide on what steps it was necessary, under the 
circumstances, to take. The hour of meeting had 
arrived, and O'Connell was about to open the busi- 
ness when a messenger from the Castle hastily en- 
tered the room, holding in his hand a Government 
proclamation ordering the immediate dissolution of 
the Board. 

The Attorney-General had done as he promised 
he would do, and crushed the Board at his own good 
time. He could not have found a more favourable 
opportunity for his purpose. As O'Connell and his 
handful of faithful adherents strolled up to his house 
in Merrion Square to make arrangements for calling 
together an aggregate meeting to discuss the situa- 
tion, the prospect that confronted them was gloomy 
in the extreme. Never, indeed, in the whole course 
of the agitation had the situation seemed more 
hopeless than it did at this moment. Distracted by 
their own internal dissensions, disowned by their 
Protestant supporters in Parliament, out-tricked at 
Rome itself, robbed of the advocacy of the press, 
and now, by the suppression of the Board, deprived 
of their last means of constitutional agitation, the 
Catholics might well seem an object of derision to 
their enemies, and O'Connell's heart might well sink 
within him as he read his own misery in the faces 
of the few friends that still clung to him. Would 
emancipation never be achieved ? Often and often 
did he ask himself the question, and the answer 



1820] Duels and Disappointments. 85 

was not always satisfactory even to his sanguine 
nature. 

Nevertheless, depressed and discouraged though 
he was, he showed no outward sign of hesitation, and 
his language in public was as hopeful as ever. His 
very presence inspired confidence. Never, not even 
in the great hour of triumph that awaited him, was 
he more deserving of the admiration and love of his 
countrymen than in the dark years that elapsed be- 
tween the suppression of the Board and the founda- 
tion of the Association. And it was with a feeling 
of justifiable pride that he afterwards recalled how, 
at a period when his minutes counted by the guinea, 
when his emoluments were limited only by the ex- 
tent of his physical and waking powers, when his 
meals were shortened to the narrowest space, and 
his sleep restricted to the earliest hours before the 
dawn — at that period, and for more than twenty 
years — there was no day that he did not devote 
one to two hours, often much more, to the working 
out of the Catholic cause, and that without receiving 
or allowing the offer of any remuneration even for 
the personal expenditure incurred in the agitation 
of the cause itself; and how for four years he bore 
the entire expenses of the Catholic agitation without 
receiving the contribution of others to a greater 
amount than £'j^ in the whole. 

Grattan's refusal to advocate the Catholic claims 
had the disastrous effect of stimulating the exertions 
of their opponents, and among several petitions pre- 
sented to Parliament hostile to their claims was one 
emanating from the corporation of Dublin. The 



86 Daniel O' ConnelL [1814- 

fact irritated O'Connell, and at a meeting of Catholics 
in January of the following year, 1815, he alluded to 
the loss they had sustained by not having the sub- 
ject discussed the previous session in Parliament, 
adding that had it been otherwise they would not 
then have seen *' the beggarly corporation of Dub- 
lin " anticipating their efforts by a petition of an 
opposite tendency. The expression, one would have 
thought, was harmless enough, and it is hard to con- 
ceive why an individual member of the corporation 
should have regarded it as personally applying to 
himself. Yet this was precisely what one of them, 
a Mr. D'Esterre, did. D'Esterre was a wholesale 
provision dealer in Bachelor's Walk and a repre- 
sentative of the guild of merchants. In early life he 
had served as a petty officer in the fleet, and by his 
courageous behaviour during the mutiny at the Nore 
had acquired for himself a considerable reputation 
for personal bravery. Moreover he was a man of 
liberal sentiments, and had on more than one occa- 
sion urged on his fellows of the corporation the 
adoption of a more conciliatory attitude towards the 
Roman Catholics, having even, it is said, opposed 
the very petition which now raised O'Connell's ire. 
Unfortunately he was in rather embarrassed circum- 
stances, and either because he hoped to improve his 
position by attacking a man personally objectionable 
to Government, or because in his sensitiveness to his 
position he fell an easy victim to the insinuations of 
more unscrupulous men, he thought proper to resent 
O'Connell's words as a direct attack on himself. 
O'Connell's surprise on opening D'Esterre's letter 



1820] Duels and Disappointments. Z"] 

requiring a retractation or explanation of the offen- 
sive expression may be more easily imagined than 
described. Retractation was of course out of the 
question, and all that he felt it incumbent on him to 
say by way of explanation was that, while the cor- 
poration doubtless contained many estimable indi- 
viduals, the conduct of the corporation itself was so 
notoriously hostile to the Catholics that their private 
opinions must necessarily be confounded in the acts 
of the general body. This explanation did not 
satisfy D'Esterre ; but instead of taking the course 
usual in such cases he despatched another letter, 
which, however, O'Connell returned unread. This 
was on Friday, 27th January. Three days elapsed 
without D'Esterre's taking any further step ; but 
on Tuesday a rumour got abroad that he was go- 
ing to horsewhip O'Connell. The whole town was 
excited over the affair, especially when it turned 
out that D'Esterre had actually appeared in the 
Four Courts with a whip in his hand, but had failed 
to find O'Connell. As for the latter, he continued 
to go about his business as usual, though attended 
by a large concourse of well-wishers determined to 
see fair play on D'Esterre's part. The comedy lasted 
the whole day ; but in the evening Justice Day in- 
terfered in his magisterial capacity, and exacted a 
promise from O'Connell that he would on no ac- 
count be the aggressor. Early next morning, how- 
ever, Sir Edward Stanley, acting as D'Esterre's 
friend, called on O'Connell, and was by him referred 
to Major MacNamara, who promptly fixed the hour 
of meeting for half-past three o'clock that afternoon. 



88 Da7iiel O' Connell. [1814- 

The snow was falling slightly as O'Connell and 
his friends rolled out of Dublin on their way to the 
appointed place of meeting at Bishop's Court, about 
twelve miles from the city. They reached the 
ground precisely at three ; an hour passed away be- 
fore D'Esterre and his friends arrived, and forty 
minutes more elapsed before the combatants were 
placed in position. In the interval D'Esterre took 
occasion to say that his quarrel with O'Connell was 
not of a religious nature, and that he had no animos- 
ity whatever against the Catholics or their leaders. 
Both he and O'Connell appeared cool and collected. 
Each was provided with a case of pistols to use at 
discretion. D'Esterre fired first, but the click of 
O'Connell's pistol followed almost instantly, and 
D'Esterre was seen to fall to the ground. Medical 
attendance was at hand, and, honour having been 
satisfied, O'Connell and his friends withdrew. Mean- 
while, it had been rumoured in Dublin that O'Con- 
nell had been killed, and fears being entertained lest 
the mob might exact personal vengeance on D'Es- 
terre, a body of cavalry was hastily despatched 
to the spot. When the truth became known, it 
caused a tremendous revulsion of feeling ; the 
joy of the populace was unbounded, bonfires were 
lighted in the streets and continued blazing till 
midnight. 

D'Esterre's wound was not at first expected to 
prove fatal. But on returning home O'Connell be- 
trayed great uneasiness as to his fate. *' I fear he is 
dead," he remarked ; *' but I fired low, and the ball 
must have entered near the thigh." His apprehen- 



1820] Duels and Disappointments. 89 

sions were verified. Next day D'Esterre expired in 
great agony. The sad issue of the duel greatly dis- 
tressed O'Connell, and anticipating legal proceedings 
he retained Richard, afterwards Baron, Pennefather, 
to defend him ; but the courtesy of the dead man's 
friends relieved him from anxiety in that respect. 
He himself was equal in generosity, and knowing 
that the death of her husband had plunged Mrs. 
D'Esterre in poverty, he offered to settle a handsome 
annuity on her, or rather, as he himself said, " to 
share his income with her." The offer was declined, 
but he prevailed on a daughter of the deceased to 
accept an annuity from him, which was regularly 
paid till his death, and at a later period he had the 
satisfaction of rendering valuable legal service to the 
widow herself. But time strengthened rather than 
diminished the remorse he felt for D'Esterre's fate, 
and the recollection of it is said, by those who knew 
him best, to have cast a shadow over his whole sub- 
sequent life. From that time forward people noticed 
that whenever he had occasion to pass D'Esterre's 
house in Bachelor's Walk he would raise his hat and 
move his lips in silent prayer. Subsequently he be- 
came so impressed with the wickedness as well as 
the folly of duelling as to register a vow never to 
fight another. From this resolve no reflection on 
his personal courage could ever move him, and there 
can be little doubt that his example did much to 
discourage the practice amongst public men. 

At the time, however, though greatly distressed 
at what had happened, he had come to no such resol- 
ution, and he had hardly emerged from his affair of 



90 Dam'el O' Co?inelL [1814- 

honour with D'Esterre than he became involved in 
another with Peel. Robert Peel was Chief Secretary 
to the Lord Lieutenant. He was barely twenty- 
seven years old, and still retained much of that ex- 
treme sensitiveness which, when a schoolboy, had 
driven him a mile out of his way rather than encounter 
the rude jests of the Burj/ lads. His appointment to 
the Irish secretaryship in 1812 he owed to Lord Liver- 
pool, who had been so favourably impressed by his 
speech in defence of the Walcheren expedition as to 
make him his private secretary. In recommending 
him to the then Lord Lieutenant, the Duke of Rich- 
mond, Liverpool, after referring to the official expe- 
rience he had acquired during the two years he had 
served under him in the Secretary of State's office, 
dwelt on his academic attainments, his good temper, 
great frankness, and openness of manners as likely to 
render his appointment both acceptable and advant- 
ageous to the Irish government. That one so young 
should, after having served so limited an apprentice- 
ship, and with no more knowledge of Ireland than he 
derived from the fact that he happened by an accid- 
ent to represent the borough of Cashel, have been 
judged capable of filling so responsible an office as 
that of Chief Secretary speaks volumes for the con- 
temptuous disregard with which Ireland was treated 
by English statesmen during the early years of the 
Union. True, Pitt had become Prime Minister of 
England at an equally early age ; but men had 
laughed derisively and not altogether without reason 
at the appointment. How would they have laughed 
had Peel been made either Secretary of War or First 



1820] Duels and Disappointments. 91 

Lord of the Treasury ! But Chief Secretary for Ire- 
land — that was a post for which the most mediocre 
talents only were required. In England mistakes 
and incompetency counted for something. In Ireland 
it was otherwise. Ireland had ever been the country 
of experiments, and there a man might try his 'pren- 
tice hand in the art of statesmanship without fear of 
censure or of risking his future career. 

So at least it seemed to O'Connell, and in the bit- 
terness of his resentment at the slight placed on his 
country he seldom, as we have seen, lost an oppor- 
tunity of venting his spleen on Peel. Nothing, 
indeed, could excuse the intemperateness of his 
language except the fact that he saw in Peel opposi- 
tion to the most elementary liberties of his country 
personified. His sneers and sarcasms no doubt went 
home ; but the haughty indifference with which the 
Chief Secretary met them galled him to madness. A 
report that Peel had spoken derogatorily of him in 
the House of Commons filled his cup of indignation 
to overflowing, and at an aggregate meeting on 29th 
August he retaliated by saying : 

" I am told he has in my absence, and in a place where 
he was privileged from any account, grossly traduced me. 
I said at the last meeting, and in the presence of the note- 
takers of the police, who are paid by him, that he was too 
prudent to attack me in my presence. I see the same 
police informers here now, and I authorise them carefully 
to report these my words : that Mr. Peel would not dare, 
in my presence and in any place where he was liable to 
personal account, to use a single expression derogatory 
to my interest or my honour." 



92 Daniel O' Connell. [1814- 

The attack was too direct to be overlooked by 
Peel, and the following day Sir Charles Saxton, at his 
request, waited on O'Connell for an explanation. 
Being satisfied that no legal prosecution was intended, 
O'Connell admitted that he had been accurately re- 
ported, whereupon Saxton stated that he was author- 
ised to say that Peel had said nothing in his speeches 
concerning him which he did not unequivocally avow 
and hold himself responsible for. " In that case," 
replied O'Connell, " I consider it incumbent on me 
to send a friend to Mr. Peel." But the friend chosen 
by him, Mr. George Lidwill, a Protestant gentleman 
and a noted duellist, did not happen to take the 
same view of the situation as his principal, and hav- 
ing in the course of an interview with Sir Charles 
Saxton elicited the important fact that Peel had never 
in his speeches in Parliament spoken disrespectfully 
of O'Connell, he gave it as his opinion that, as the 
insult had originated with the latter he could not 
likewise be the challenger. Saxton reminded him 
that this was not O'Connell's opinion ; but Lidwill 
was not to be moved from his position, and declared 
that if O'Connell insisted on sending a message to 
Peel he must decline to act in the matter. 

It thus happened that, while both parties waited 
for a message, no message was sent by either, and 
Saxton, supposing that O'Connell was trying to slip 
out of the business, sent an account of the affair to 
Saturday evening's Correspondent. When O'Connell, 
in turning over the paper, came across this letter his 
indignation passed all bounds, and sitting down he 
penned a most abusive letter to Carrick's Post, 



1820] Duels and Disappointments. 93 

directly charging Peel and Saxton with resorting to 
" a paltry trick," and with having '' ultimately pre- 
ferred a paper war." His letter, of course, brought 
matters to a crisis, and an hour or two after its 
appearance came a politely worded request from the 
Chief Secretary to appoint a friend to make arrange- 
ments with Colonel Brown for an early meeting. 
Lidwill having in the meanwhile become personally 
involved with Saxton, O'Connell turned to his old 
friend, Richard Newton Bennett. But the reports in 
the newspapers had by this time so alarmed Mrs. 
O'Connell that, fearing for her husband's life, she 
sent privately, after he had retired to rest, to the 
sheriff, who, returning with two police officers, gave 
him then and there into custody with instructions to 
remain in his bedroom all night. Almost at the 
same time Lidwill was placed under arrest, and both 
he and O'Connell bound over in heavy penalties to 
keep the peace. 

O'Connell's position was now an extremely dis- 
agreeable one, especially as the papers had taken the 
matter up, and were keenly discussing the relative 
merits of him and Peel. A meeting in Ireland being 
out of the question, it was arranged that they should 
proceed by different routes to the continent and 
settle their difference abroad. Ostend was named as 
the place of rendezvous, and Peel, setting off at once, 
had already been there several days, practising, Irish 
imagination had it, at an ace of hearts, when the news 
reached him that O'Connell had been arrested in 
London. The arrest this time was at the instance 
of James B-^^cket, Under-Secretary of State, a friend 



94 Daniel O' Connell. [1814- 

of Peel's, and O'Connell, bound over in heavy 
penalties to keep the peace, returned to Ireland. It 
was a wholly unsatisfactory conclusion to a wholly 
unsatisfactory affair. The original offender had 
been O'Connell himself, but the responsibiHty of 
pushing matters to extremities must rest entirely 
with Saxton. He and Lidwill met on the continent 
and exchanged shots, the latter firing in the air, say- 
ing that he had no personal grievance against his 
opponent. 

Ten years later, when emancipation seemed likely 
to be conceded by Parliament, O'Connell, in order to 
conciliate Peel, tendered him an apology through 
Bennett. In acknowledging it. Peel said that time 
and the consciousness that he had done all in his 
power to procure honourable reparation '^ had re- 
moved all feelings of personal hostility and resent- 
ment, to which a deep sense of injury might at first 
have given rise. Had any such feelings survived, the 
intention of Mr. O'Connell in making the communica- 
tion which he had recently made could not have 
failed completely to have extinguished them." It 
was an honourable and manly step on O'Connell's 
part ; but when the fact leaked out, public opinion 
in Ireland charged him with *' crouching ' to the 
most implacable and dangerous enemy of the Catholic 
cause. To this charge O'Connell replied : 

" There was, I know it well, personal humiliation in 
taking such a step. But is not this a subject upon which 
I merit humiliation ? Yes, let me be sneered at and let 
me be censured, even by the generous and respected ; I 
do not shrink from this humiliation. He who feels 



1820] Duels and Disappointments. 95 

conscious of having outraged the law of God ought to feel 
a pleasure in the avowal of his deep and lasting regret." 

Meanwhile, to revert to public affairs, the aggre- 
gate meeting, which had been called to consider the 
situation into which the affairs of the Catholics had 
been thrown by the refusal of Grattan to advocate 
their claims, and the dissolution of the Catholic 
Board, met on i ith June, 1814, and passed certain 
formal resolutions. But the attendance was thin, 
and the prevailing air was one of apathy and indif- 
ference. Indeed, so long as the Securities question 
remained unsettled it was hopeless to look for any 
decided action. So far as Quarantotti's rescript was 
concerned, the remonstrance of the Irish episcopacy 
had been successful in inducing the Pope to recall 
it; but what direction his Holiness's final decision 
might take it was impossible to predict. The ques- 
tion of petitioning Parliament in the following ses- 
sion did something, however, to stir the smouldering 
ashes into a feeble flame. At a meeting in Lord Fin- 
gal's drawing room, on loth January, 181 5, Richard 
Lalor Shell, rising into fame as a dramatic writer 
and the one eloquent mouthpiece of the vetoists, 
submitted a well-written petition. The only objec- 
tion to it was that it was too servile in tone, and held 
out a hope of compromise on the Securities diffi- 
culty. The influence of O'Connell was sufficient to 
secure its rejection, and to obtain the appointment 
of a committee, of which he was one, to frame a 
suitable petition. But the same difference of opin- 
ion manifested itself in the committee as had shown 



96 Daniel O' Connell. [1814- 

itself in the meeting, and after a second futile effort 
at unanimity it was resolved simply that a petition 
should be presented, leaving it open to discussion 
what that petition should be and also as to whom it 
should be offered for presentation. After some hesita- 
tion it was agreed to call upon their old friends, Lord 
Donoughmore and Grattan. The former responded 
cordially, but the latter would only consent to pro- 
mote their claims on his own conditions, viz., of 
qualified emancipation. His attitude was severely 
censured by O'Connell at an adjourned meeting of 
Catholics on 15th February. He did not, he de- 
clared, dispute or question Grattan's integrity or his 
high honour ; but, humble as he was in talents and 
station compared with him, he did dispute his judg- 
ment and was prepared to demonstrate how mistaken 
he was. 

In the meantime, in order to keep the flame of 
agitation alive, O'Connell had started a new society 
having its headquarters in Capel Street, and calling 
itself the Catholic Association — the precursor of the 
more famous one of the same name. In founding it 
every care had been taken to steer clear of the Con- 
vention Act. No chair had been taken, no proposi- 
tion submitted, no instructions offered, no speech 
delivered ; but every gentleman who chose to belong 
to it entered his name in a book which the secretary 
held open daily from eleven till three. It was, in 
effect, the suppressed Board revived under a new 
name. To this society O'Connell now proposed to 
assign the task of finding some member of the 
House of Commons willing to support their claim 




S^k. 




RICHARD LALOR SHEIL. 

FROM THE BUST BY G. MOORE, M.R.I. A. 



1820] Duels and Disappointments, 97 

for unqualified emancipation. Such a member was 
found in the person of Sir Henry Parnell ; but on 
moving the House to go into committee on the 
CathoHc claims on 31st May he was defeated by a 
majority of eighty-one. 

Clearly nothing was to be hoped for in England 
or in Ireland until the Securities difficulty had been 
settled. Acting in this belief O'Connell drew up or 
inspired a " humble address and remonstrance of the 
Roman Catholics of Ireland to his Holiness, Pope 
Pius VII.," embodying the fears, desires, and deter- 
minations of the anti-vetoists. Coming from his 
pen, the address was hardly to be called a '* hum- 
ble " remonstrance; on the contrary, it conveyed 
to his Holiness, in pretty forcible language, that 
the Catholics of Ireland would submit to no "" in- 
terference " on his part, or that " of any other for- 
eign prelate, state, or potentate in the control of 
our temporal conduct or the arrangement of our 
political concerns," and concluded with a fervent 
hope that his Holiness would see his way to gratify 
his most devoted children in avoiding the machi- 
nations of their enemies, '' and thereby perpetu- 
ate by indissoluble bonds the spiritual connexion, 
which has been so long maintained between the see 
of Rome and the Roman Catholics of Ireland," — 
otherwise they '* would still proceed in the course 
which practice and persecution have tried and 
proved." The memorial was transmitted to Rome, 
but after a long delay it was finally rejected by the 
Pope, on the ground that the laity had no business 
to interfere in matters held to be purely ecclesiastical. 



98 Daniel O' Connell. [1814- 

The result might have been expected, consider- 
ing the paramount influence of Cardinal Gonsalvi 
in the councils of the papacy. But the miscarriage 
of the address greatly animated the vetoists, and at 
a meeting at Lord Trimleston's a petition embodying 
their views was signed and transmitted to Grattan 
and Lord Donoughmore for presentation to Par- 
liament. The petition was presented by Grattan on 
15th May, 1 8 16, as was also another praying for un- 
conditional emancipation by Sir H. Parnell on behalf 
of the anti-vetoists, but a proposal to resolve itself 
into a committee for the consideration of the penal 
laws was defeated by thirty-one votes. The division 
was more favourable than that of the preceding 
year ; but circumstances had changed. The banish- 
ment of Napoleon, and the restoration of peace to 
Europe, had introduced a new element into domestic 
politics. Whatever necessity there might have been 
so long as the war lasted of conciliating the Catho- 
lics, no longer existed. Men were weary of the sub- 
ject, and were glad of any excuse to let it drop. 
Nor was the feeling of apathy confined to England. 
In Ireland vetoists and anti-vetoists were tired of the 
struggle, — of this constant enacting the part of the 
Sisyphus, and sank back into hopeless indifference. 

To O'Connell it was a period of harassing care and 
anxiety. He could see for himself that the Catholic 
peasantry, the bulk of the nation, whose cause he 
had made his own, showed little interest one way or 
another. Rent, tithes, taxes — these were the things 
that concerned them, not emancipation, qualified or 
unqualified. What mattered it to them whether 



1820] Duels and Disappointments. 99 

Roman Catholics sat in Parliament or not ? Roman 
Catholic landlords were no better than their Pro- 
testant neighbours, often even worse. Men of wealth 
and position might find it to their advantage to sit in 
Parliament ; their priests told them that emancipa- 
tion was a good thing ; but on the whole they did 
not care a farthing about it, any more than they had 
done about the Union. A deplorable state of affairs, 
no doubt ; but facts and the ordinary conditions of 
life are stubborn things. People who have to fight 
for their daily bread do not get excited over seats in 
Parliament till seats in Parliament mean something 
to them individually — higher wages, better living, 
and less tyranny. Naturally, they shouted them- 
selves hoarse when anyone, especially O'Connell, 
dilated on their grievances — on the iniquity of the 
penal laws which excluded them from the full rights 
of citizenship. But what Irishman, or, for the matter 
of that, what Englishman, is ever without his griev- 
ance, real or imaginary? The wonder is not so 
much that it took twenty-nine years to obtain eman- 
cipation, as that anyone should have been found 
capable of stirring a nation into enthusiasm over it. 
For, after all, emancipation was not such a vital 
question as was the repeal of the corn-laws, for ex- 
ample. That it was a grievance no one can gainsay ; 
but it was a grievance which affected a very limited 
class only, and might have been as easily redressed in 
1800 as it was in 1829. Circumstances rather than 
his own free choice had driven O'Connell into the 
fray, but, having taken up his stand, nothing could 
induce him to withdraw, nothing could damp his 

UifC. 



loo Da7iiel O' Comtell. [1814- 

ardour. Victory crowned his devotion in the end 
at a price which it took half a century to repair. 
But the balance was on his side, for in the struggle 
he had called a nation into existence. The victory 
itself was nothing : the ulterior results everything. 

Meantime, he stood alone. Except for himself and 
the secretary, scarcely anyone troubled the commit- 
tee rooms in Capel Street with their presence, and 
having to pay the rent out of his own pocket he 
moved the Association into less pretentious premises 
in Crow Street. All this time his business in the 
law courts had been steadily increasing. But despite 
his rising income, he was already encumbered with 
debts of one sort or another, due largely to the fact 
that very early in his career he had become surety 
for an insolvent friend, while the expenses of main- 
taining the agitation pressed heavily upon him. 
Habitually careless in money matters, money had 
thus become to him an absolute necessity, and the 
strain on his working powers was immense. A letter 
written to him by his wife on i ith April, 1817, during 
the Cork assizes, is worth quoting: 

" My dearest Love," she writes, ** I wish to God you 
could contrive to get out of court for a quarter of an 
hour during the middle of the day, to take a bowl of 
soup or a snack of some kind. Surely, though you may 
not be able to go to a tavern, could not James get any- 
thing you wished for from the Bar mess at your lodgings 
which is merely a step from the Court House ? Do, my 
heart, try to accomplish this : for really, I am quite un- 
happy to have you fasting from an early hour in the 
morning until nine or ten o'clock at night. I wish I 



1820] Duels and Disappointments, loi 

was with you, to make you take care of yourself. I am 
quite sure there is not another barrister on circuit would 
go through half the fatigue you do without taking 
necessary nourishment." 

That year, 1817, no petition was presented to Par- 
liament. But Grattan, understanding that there was 
a prospect of uniting parties in Ireland by a quasi- 
compromise, under the name of '' domestic nom- 
ination," whereby the Pope's selection to Irish 
bishoprics was to be restricted to a list of candi- 
dates forwarded to him from the prelates of the 
province and clergy of the vacant diocese, moved 
the reading of the petition of the previous year, and 
on 9th May divided the House on the subject of the 
Catholic claims, when 221 voted for and 245 against 
the motion to go into committee. The division at- 
tracted scarcely any attention in Ireland. However, 
at an aggregate meeting on 3d July, a resolution was 
passed to reorganise the Catholic Board, consisting 
of the members of the former body, the old Catholic 
Committee, and the short-lived Association. The 
Board held its first meeting on the 12th, and entered 
into resolutions for greater activity against the veto 
and in favour of '' domestic nomination." But it 
proved as helpless as its predecessor to stimulate 
public opinion, and in view of the anticipated general 
election, in the summer of the following year, 
18 1 8, no petition was framed for presentation to 
Parliament. 

Month after month thus passed idly away : all in- 
terest in the subject seemed to have expired. To 
deepen the general despondency, Ireland was visited 



I o 2 Dan iel O' Con n ell. [1814- 

by one of those periodical famines which engrave 
themselves so deeply in the popular memory as to 
serve for a starting-point from which to date events, 
until the remembrance of the former has been obliter- 
ated in the recurrence of another similar visitation. 
The harvest of 1 8 1 7 had proved an almost total failure. 
The potato crop, to which nearly half the population 
looked for its sustenance, had rotted in the ground. 
What had escaped, the tithe-proctor had seized. 
Close in the wake of famine came pestilence ; and 
death, in the form of typhus, mowed down the starv- 
ing peasantry by thousands. Hardly a village in the 
whole length and breadth of the land escaped its 
visitation. Crowds of half-naked, emaciated beings 
wandered disconsolately about from town to town, 
seeking work and finding none, but spreading the 
disease wherever they went. The roadsides were 
lined with sick and dying, and not the poor and 
starving only — strong men and women in the full 
vigour of life fell before its ravages. Doctors, nurses, 
priests, engaged in the tender ministrations of their 
offices, caught the infection and died at their posts. 
The very air reeked contagion. Even the hand of 
agrarian outrage was paralysed. The visitation was 
too appalling, and men, women, and children per- 
ished in droves in pitiable, Oriental-like apathy and 
silence. 

In England the state of Ireland awoke only a pass- 
ing thrill of horror. England had her own troubles 
to bear. Since the conclusion of the great war she 
had passed through a period of intense economic 
distress. Neither agriculturists nor manufacturers 



1820] Dtiels and Disappointments. 103 

could find work for the extra hands that war prices 
had called into existence. Riots, incendiarism, 
bloodshed, and conspiracies, followed by the suspen- 
sion of the Habeas Corpus Act, were the conse- 
quence. How different ! how much better than in 
Ireland, where men perished without a struggle, and 
almost without a moan ! France, it was true, had 
been conquered ; but French ideas — the ideas un- 
derlying the French Revolution — had taken root, and 
were germinating in England. Men studied Vol- 
taire and Rousseau ; they studied Adam Smith, and 
a strong reaction set in among the thinking class 
against arbitrary government. Nowhere was the 
feeling stronger than amongst the artisans of the 
north of England, with whom a radical reform of 
Parliament was the first and most essential article of 
their political creed. 

The movement interested O'Connell. Granted a 
reform of Parliament, the abolition of rotten bor- 
oughs, and a redistribution of seats, there could 
hardly, he thought, be any question as to the success 
of Catholic emancipation. Already, in January, 1817, 
he had assisted at the formation in Dublin of a 
society of '' Friends of Reform in Parliament." 
Though short-lived, the society had the effect of 
stimulating the expression of liberal opinion in fa- 
vour of the Catholics, and on 3d May, 18 19, Grattan 
had the satisfaction of presenting eight Roman 
Catholic and five Protestant petitions in favour of 
the Catholic claims. It was the last time he ad- 
dressed the House in their behalf. It was an impress- 
ive speech, and his motion that the House should 



I04 Daniel O' Coiinell. tl8i4- 

resolve itself into committee was defeated by only 
two votes. 

O'Connell was jubilant at the result. In December, 
1818, he had protested that if he had to petition 
alone he would not let another session go by in 
ignominious silence, and now not only had the 
Catholics made themselves heard, but Protestant 
opinion had backed up their claims. Not one word 
had been said about the veto. The next session 
must surely, in his opinion, see them emancipated. 
" Whose fault," he wrote to O'Conor Don, on 
2ist November, 

" will it be if we are not emancipated this session ? I 
think our own. One grand effort now ought to emanci- 
pate us, confined, as it should be exclusively, to our own 
question. After that I would, I acknowledge, join the 
reformers, hand as well as heart, unless they do now 
emancipate. By they, of course I mean the Parliament. 

I intend instantly to set the cause in motion 

I came to town only yesterday, and already I have many 
irons in the fire to raise the blaze which should lead us 
to victory." 

His energy, indeed, was amazing. Next day he 
published a long address to the Catholics of Ireland. 
"The period," he wrote, 

" is at length arrived when we may ascertain and place 
beyond any doubt whether it be determined that we are 
for ever to remain a degraded and inferior class in our 
native land The session of Parliament com- 
mences in one short month Let us then, 

my countrymen, meet ; let us prepare our petitions ; let 
those petitions be numerous ; let them be unanimous and 



1820] Duels and Disappointments. 105 

confined to the single object of emancipation 

You will be told you should despise emancipation as a 
minor and unworthy consideration and join the almost 
universal cry of reform. Do not be carried away by any 
such incitement. No man is more decidedly a friend to 
reform than I am. In theory, I admit the right to universal 
suffrage, and I admit that curtailing the duration of 
Parliament would be likely to add to its honesty. Nay, 
I am ready to go to the fullest practical length to obtain 
parliamentary reform. But we have a previous duty 
to perform : a favourable opportunity now presents 
itself to add to the general stock of liberty by obtain- 
ing our emancipation, and the man would, in my judg- 
ment, be a false patriot who, for the chance of an 
uncertain reform, would fling away the present most 
propitious moment to realize a most important and 
almost certain advantage." 

The petitions were unanimously entrusted to the 
aged statesman, Henry Grattan. But the hand of 
death was upon him as he sailed for England amid 
the acclamations and tears of the large assembly 
that had congregated together on the quay to bid 
him '* God-speed." It was a solemn journey, for 
the hopes of the Catholics beat high ; and each one 
prayed that it might be granted to him, who through 
good and ill report had fought for their freedom, to 
achieve the long-wished-for victory. But it was 
otherwise ordained. On 4th June, 1820, a few days 
after reaching London, Grattan died. 

" Oh ! " exclaimed O'Connell, "I should exhaust the 

dictionary three times told ere I could enumerate the 

.virtues of Grattan. . . . His life, to the very period 



io6 



Daniel O' Connell. 



[1814-1820] 



of his latest breath, has been spent in his country's ser- 
vice, and he died, I may even say, a martyr in her cause. 
Who shall now prate to me of religious animosity ? To 
any such I will answer by pointing to his honoured 
tomb, and I will say, ' There sleeps a man, a member of 
the Protestant community, who died in the cause of his 
Catholic fellow-countrymen.' " 




CHAPTER VL 



THE KING S VISIT. 



1821-1822. 



G RATTAN'S death was a grievous disappoint- 
ment to the CathoHcs, particularly to those 
who, with O'Connell, had sanguinely ex- 
pected a favourable reception of their claims by Par- 
liament. The difficulty was to find a substitute for 
him. Two names suggested themselves, that of Mr., 
afterwards Lord, Plunket and that of Maurice Fitz- 
gerald, Knight of Kerry. Plunket was undoubtedly 
by far the abler man ; but his attitude in regard to 
the veto was even less satisfactory than Grattan's had 
been, and it was, in O'Connell's opinion, in the high- 
est degree unwise to place themselves unreservedly 
in his hands. At his suggestion, it was therefore 
resolved to send a deputation to sound him on the 
point, and in the event of his reply proving unsatis- 
factory, to transfer their petition to the Knight of 
Kerry. Plunket met the deputation in a friendly 
manner, expressed his willingness to agitate their 
claims, but gave it as his opinion that some sort of 
conditions or securities were both just and necessary. 

107 



io8 Daniel O'Comtell. [i82i- 

Under the circumstances, it was clearly the duty of 
the Committee to have reported in favour of entrust- 
ing the management of the Catholic claims to the 
Knight of Kerry. Instead of doing so, they resolved, 
by the casting vote of the chairman, to refer them- 
selves unreservedly to Plunket's guidance. Their 
conduct irritated and alarmed O'Connell, who lost 
no time in denouncing their proceeding as wholly 
wrong and unjustifiable. As it was, he might, to 
use a popular phrase, have saved his breath to cool 
his porridge. For neither the House of Lords, that 
could listen for weeks to the nasty revelations con- 
nected with the divorce of George IV., nor the 
House of Commons, that was ready to adjourn from 
week to week at the convenience of the ministry, 
could find time to discuss the grievances of five mil- 
lions of Irishmen. That session no Catholic petition 
was presented to Parliament, and thus, as O'Connell 
indignantly exclaimed, " has the best opportunity I 
have ever known of pressing emancipation on the 
ministry been thrown away and lost for ever." 

Under the circumstances it only remained to fall 
back on the alternative he had previously suggested 
of joining the reformers, hand and heart. Accord- 
ingly, on 1st January, 1821, in a ''Letter to the 
Catholics of Ireland," he urged that they should no 
longer petition for emancipation, but for reform of 
Parliament. It was time they should be weary of 
swelling the ranks of those 

" Who yearly kneel before their masters' doors. 
And hawk their wrongs, as beggars do their sores." 



^ ■ "K 




LORD PLUNKET. 

FROM THE BUST BY CHRISTOPHER MOORE. 



1822] The Kings Visit. 109 

It was useless — worse than useless — to petition a 
Parliament of virtual representatives for liberty — to 
be again rejected and mocked by the trickery of a 
debate, and insulted by an unreasoning majority. 
Let them cease their separate and exclusive labours. 
Let them endeavour to amalgamate the Catholic, 
the Protestant, the Presbyterian, the Dissenter, the 
Methodist, the Quaker, into the Irishman ; and, for- 
getting their own individual wrongs, call upon Irish- 
men of every description to combine in a noble 
struggle for the natural and inherent rights of their 
wretched country. Let their future purpose be the 
abolition of that faction which had plunged England 
in war, in debt, in distress, and involved Ireland in 
all the miseries of the Union. Let them not enter 
into any quarrels as to the particular mode of reform ; 
but let them be always governed by that principle 
of the constitution which justifies taxation upon the 
ground of consent ; so that, without a solecism in 
constitutional law, no man should be taxed who is 
not represented. 

It was, it must be confessed, a curiously weak and 
inconclusive argument, clearly showing that O'Con- 
nell was trying rather to convince himself than speak- 
ing his entire conviction of the wisdom of the step 
he was taking. Naturally his pronouncement at- 
tracted general attention, and was sharply com- 
mented upon, especially in vetoistic circles. Of this 
feeling Sheil made himself the spokesman. In his 
''Answer to Mr. O'Connell's Address," he had no 
difficulty in pointing out the weak points in his argu- 
ment — indeed, they lay on the surface. But 



no Daniel O' Connell. 11821- 

O'Connell's suggestion had at least the merit of sin- 
cerity, which Sheil's counterblast did not possess. It 
was, however, an extremely clever production, and set 
forth the argument of the vetoists in its strongest 
aspect. O'Connell treated it with withering sarcasm. 

" He was at a loss," he wrote, " to know how he had 
provoked the ' tragic wrath and noble ire of this iambic 
rhapsodist.' Nothing, it seemed to him, so unprovoked 
had ever appeared in the annals of causeless incivility. 
Mr. Sheil had set out in a passion, and preserved the 
consistency of his rage to the end. He reminded him of 
a gentleman who was so very angry an atheist that it was 
not safe for a believer to address him without prefacing 

his remark, — ' Mr. , I do not mean you any personal 

offence, but I really believe in the existence of a Deity.' 
So he had to say to Mr. Sheil, ' Sir, I do not mean you 
any insult, — indeed I do not, — but yet I am fervently, 
aye, and disinterestedly, attached to my religion, to my 
country, and to liberty.' Mr. Sheil was, no doubt, in his 
own opinion, a diamond of the first water. He was heartily 
welcome to sparkle at his expense ; but he implored him, 
with all the earnestness of the plainest prose, to refrain 
from his sneering sarcasms against the long-suffering and 
very wretched people of Ireland." 

To be treated as a meddlesome nobody hardly 
suited Shell's notions of his own importance, and it 
was with some difficulty that he was dissuaded by 
his friend, the younger Curran, from demanding 
personal satisfaction from the man he had attacked. 
But it seemed as if he was going to reap a sweeter 
revenge than even a well directed bullet could have 
afforded him, in the fulfilment of his prophecy. The 



1822] TheKmg's Visit. iii 

retirement of Canning from the ministry, on which 
O'Connell had laid particular emphasis, had not, it 
appeared, weakened the Cathohc cause, for on 28th 
February the House of Commons determined by 
a majority of six votes to resolve itself into commit- 
tee for the consideration of the Catholic claims. 
But the appearance of Plunket's Bills confirmed 
O'Connell's worst suspicions. Not only were the 
Catholics specially excluded from the highest ofifices 
in the State, but securities and conditions were pro- 
nounced to be absolutely indispensable. O'Connell 
was at Limerick on circuit when the text of the Bills 
reached him. The situation, in his opinion, was 
critical in the extreme. The Bills appealed to the 
vetoists ; they might pass both Houses, be sanc- 
tioned by the sovereign, and the last condition of 
the Catholics prove worse than their first. Without 
a moment's loss of time he sat down and penned 
another address to the Catholics, warning them 
against the insidious nature of the relief offered 
them. His intention was to pass a searching criti- 
cism on the two Bills. With the first he was soon 
ready. It was, he admitted, really an Emancipation 
Bill. Had it stood alone it would have given un- 
qualified x^X\^{ ; and such unqualified relief, even with- 
out being half so extensive, would have been a source 
of lively and permanent gratitude. But it was 
otherwise when he came to examine its companion : 
'* Beyond comparison more strictly, literally, and 
emphatically a penal and persecuting Bill than any 
or all the statutes passed in the darkest and most 
bigoted periods of the reigns of Queen Anne or of 



112 Daniel O' Connell. [1821- 

the first two Georges." The letter, written in the 
intervals of professional duty, was published in por- 
tions, but it was never finished. Before it was com- 
pleted help came to him from an unexpected quarter. 
After passing the House of Commons, on i6th April, 
the measure was rejected on its first reading in the 
House of Lords. 

"What is to be done now?" wrote O'Connell to 
O'Conor Don, with a side-glance at Shell and his 
friends. *' Even the vetoists must admit that Se- 
curities do us no good, because we are kicked out 
as unceremoniously with them as without them." 
The announcement that George IV. would visit 
Ireland that summer came like a heaven-sent answer 
to his question. It was the first time for more than 
a century that their sovereign had thought it worth 
his while to visit Ireland : it was the first time since 
the Conquest that their sovereign had come to them 
as a messenger of peace. The announcement was 
received with infinite satisfaction, not merely by that 
class which always feels a delight in sunning itself 
in the rays of royalty, but by the nation at large. 
What benefits might not be expected to accrue from 
his visit to poor, distracted, down-trodden Ireland — 
the Cinderella of the family ! Into the reasons of it 
they did not stop to inquire. It was sufficient that 
their sovereign was coming. The heart of the nation 
thrilled at the good news. A great wave of loyalty 
swept the land from one end to the other. For 
the nonce Orangeman and Catholic agreed to lay 
aside their feud and unite in giving their sovereign 
a unanimous welcome. The corporation of Dublin 




QEORQE IV. 
FROM A PAINTING BY SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE, P.R.A., IN THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY. 



1822] The King 's Visit. 1 1 3 

set the way, and O'Connell on his side responded 
heartily, hoping that it might prove a step towards 
the realisation of his dream, when Catholic and 
Protestant, Orangeman and Ribbonman, should be 
merged in the Irishman. 

Nevertheless the compromise, if such it may be 
called, was not accomplished without considerable 
friction. Neither the prospect of the King's visit, 
nor the promise given by the Lord Mayor in the 
name of the corporation, could restrain the Orange- 
men from celebrating the 12th of July in the time- 
honoured fashion of dressing the statue of King 
William in College Green. Their conduct exasper- 
ated the Catholics, and it required all O'Connell's 
tact to prevent them from retaliating with a hostile 
resolution. By venting their indignation they would, 
he declared, lose the vantage-ground on which they 
stood. Their enemies averred that they did nothing 
to conciliate. He might be called an "unhappy 
man," but he confessed he still hailed with joy the 
day on which the Lord Mayor of Dublin, the deputy 
grand-master of the Orangemen, made a peace-offer- 
ing to the Catholics of Ireland. The admission 
might expose him to ridicule, but he was weak 
enough to wish to see those distinctions, which had 
been the curse of his country, sunk in the single 
name of Irishman, and he was credulous enough to 
think that a consummation so devoutly to be desired 
was by no means impossible. Mr. Shell wanted to 
address the Castle. By all means let him do so. He 
would find ample redress ! The statue would never 
be dressed again and the Catholics never again be 



114 Daniel O' Connell. [1821- 

insulted ! Perhaps they might also be told that the 
courts of law were open to them ; perhaps, too, 
the Attorney-General might express his opinion on 
the illegality of Orange associations and extol the 
immense loyalty of the Catholics ! In the end, it was 
unanimously resolved '' That notwithstanding the un- 
provoked insult which has been offered to public 
feeling by the decoration of the statue in College 
Green, as a tribute of our homage to his Majesty, we 
shall avoid, by any remonstrance to Government, an 
interruption of that harmony to which we are anxious 
to contribute." 

On 1 2th August George IV. landed at Howth 
amid the booming of cannons and the clashing of 
bells. That night Dublin was illuminated ; fires 
blazed in the streets, and lights shone from every 
window, not the least brilliantly lighted being 
O'Connell's own residence. The news of Queen 
Caroline's death interrupted the festivities for several 
days; but on i/th August the King entered Dublin 
in state. As the royal cortege, slowly winding its 
way from the viceregal lodge past Phibsborough, 
through Eccles Street and Cavendish Row, passed 
under the triumphal arch, at the top of Sackville 
Street, that marked the bounds of the city proper, 
a stupendous spectacle broke upon the monarch's 
gaze. The whole of that magnificent thoroughfare, 
from the ground to the roofs of the houses, seemed 
alive with human beings. Not a window was empty, 
not a single coign of vantage, not the architrave it- 
self of the post-office, nor the very capstan on which 
rested the statue of Nelson, was vacant. And if the 



1822] The King's Visit. 115 

street, as a wit remarked, was badly paved, at any 
rate it was well flagged. Shout upon shout rent the 
air as the King, standing in his carriage, and evidently 
profoundly moved at the unexpected warmth of his 
reception, bowed to right and left, pointing now to 
his heart, now to the large bunch of shamrock he 
wore in his hat. Crossing Carlisle Bridge a similar 
ovation awaited him in Dame Street, and long after 
he had disappeared from sight behind the walls of the 
Castle the applause of the populace testified to the 
joy with which they welcomed their sovereign. It 
was an unique experience in his worthless,wasted life ; 
it was a new experience in the dreary annals of Ire- 
land. It seemed as if the millennium had come ; as if, 
after centuries of oppression, the Irish people, united 
in the bond of loyalty, all their party feuds and hat- 
reds forgotten, had entered on a new and happy 
period in their history. O'Connell could have wept 
for joy. '' One bright day had realised all his fond 
expectations. It was said of St. Patrick that he had 
power to banish venomous reptiles from the isle ; 
but his Majesty had performed a greater moral mira- 
cle. The sound of his approach had allayed the 
dissensions of centuries." 

Carried away by the general enthusiasm, he not 
only accepted an invitation to dine with the Lord 
Mayor, but presented himself at Court, put his name 
down as a subscriber — and, what few did, actually 
paid his money — for the erection of a royal palace 
to commemorate the King's visit, which was to cost 
a million of money, but which, in default of the 
necessary funds, eventually took the form of a 



ii6 Daniel O'Connell. [1821- 

bridge ; and if he did not, as the Enghsh newspapers 
asserted, accompany the King at his departure and, 
literally kneeling in the water, present him with a 
laurel crown, he at least showed by every act in his 
power that he, for one, was willing to let bygones be 
bygones, and to prove that his Majesty had no more 
loyal subject than he was. The comedy did not 
come to an end with the King's departure. A letter 
signed by the Prime Minister, thanking the nation, in 
the King's name, for the friendly reception accorded 
him, and recommending peace and unity, mutual 
forbearance and good will, was construed as a hope- 
ful token of a more liberal policy in the future ; and 
that it might not remain a dead letter O'Connell 
founded a '' Loyal Union, or Royal Georgian Club " 
in Dublin, for the express purpose of encouraging 
mutual forbearance and good will and perpetuating 
that " affectionate gratitude towards his Majesty, 
King George the Fourth (whom God preserve), which 
now animates every Irish bosom." The society 
pledged itself to meet and dine together at least six 
times a year, each member dressed in cloth of Irish 
manufacture and in the colours worn by the citizens 
of Dublin on the auspicious day of his Majesty's 
public entry into the city. 

Meanwhile a scornful world looked on and laughed 
at the sad spectacle, and Byron, in the name of com- 
mon sense and decency, lashed both O'Connell and 
the nation for their servility in scathing verse. 

" Ere the daughter of Brunswick is cold in her grave. 
And her ashes still float to their home o'er the tide. 



1822] The King's Visit. 117 

Lo ! George the Triumphant speeds over the wave 
To the long-cherished isle, which he loved like his 
— bride. 



" But he comes ! the Messiah of royalty comes ! 
Like a goodly Leviathan rolled from the waves ; 
Then receive him as best such an advent becomes, 
With a legion of cooks and an army of slaves. 

" He comes in the promise and bloom of three-score, 
To perform in the pageant the sovereign's part — 
But long live the shamrock which shadows him o'er, 
Could the green in his hat be transferred to his heart ! 

" Could that long-withered spot but be verdant again, 
And a new spring of noble affections arise — 
Then might freedom forgive thee this dance in thy 
chain, 
And this shout of thy slavery which saddens the skies. 

" Is it madness, or meanness which clings to thee now? 
Were he God — as he is but the commonest clay. 
With scarce fewer wrinkles than sins on his brow — 
Such servile devotion might shame him away. 

"Wear, Fingal, thy trapping ! O'Connell, proclaim 

His accomplishments! His!! I and thy country 
convince 
Half an age's contempt was an error of fame. 

And that Hal is the rascaliest, sweetest j'^?/;?^ prince ! 

" Ah ! build him a dwelling ! Let each give his mite ! 
Till, like Babel, the new royal dome hath arisen ! 



1 1 8 Daniel O ' Connell. 



[1821- 



Let thy beggars and helots their pittance unite — 
And a palace bestow for a poorhouse and prison ! 

" Syjread, — spread for Vitellius the royal repast, 

Till the gluttonous despot be stuffed to the gorge ! 
And the roar of his drunkards proclaim him at last 
The Fourth of the fools and oppressors called 
' George ' ! 

" Shout, drink, feast, and flatter ! Oh ! Erin, how low 
Wert thou sunk by misfortune and tyranny, till 
Thy welcome of tyrants hath plunged thee below 
The depth of thy deep in a deeper gulf still." 

The awakening came in the end, and no one felt 
the disappointment more keenly than did O'Connell. 
A few weeks after the King's departure Shell neatly- 
summed up the situation — '' Love one another, said 
the King: Hate one another, said the law, and the 
law was speedily obeyed." Still nothing would con- 
vince O'Connell that he had not acted for the best, 
and the more his conduct was impugned the more 
obstinately did he defend it. Years afterwards, re- 
verting to the subject, he said : 

" This was the most critical period of my political life, 
and that in which I had the good fortune to be most 
successful. If I have any merit for the success of the 
Catholic cause, it is principally to be found in the mode 
in which I neutralised the most untoward events and 
converted the most sinister appearances and circum- 
stances into the utmost extent of practical usefulness to 
the cause of which I was the manager. ... I am 
entitled to this fact, that no part of my political life 



1922] The King' s Visit. 119 

obtained, I will say deservedly, so much of the gratitude 
and confidence of my countrymen as the mode in which 
I was able to convert the King's visit to Ireland from 
being a source of weakness and discomfiture to the 
Catholics into a future claim for practical relief and 
political equalisation." 

But, if it is impossible to concede O'Connell's claim 
to have acted either wisely or with dignity, it must be 
allowed that personal considerations had little to do 
with his conduct, for between him and George IV. 
there was little love lost. Moreover, it must be 
granted that the Catholics, under his guidance, 
acted with admirable self-restraint, and if their demand 
for emancipation was disregarded, their attitude 
strengthened the hands of their friends in Parliament 
and in the ministry itself. Emancipation, indeed, 
had now become an open question, and the division 
in the Cabinet reflected itself in Ireland in the inaugu- 
ration of what was not inaptly called a *' sandwich 
system," having for its object the conciliation of 
both Catholics and Protestants. 

In December Lord Talbot was recalled, and the 
Marquis of Wellesley appointed Viceroy in his place. 
As a friend of the Catholics his appointment, it was 
hoped, would conciliate them ; but that it might not 
alarm the Protestants, or give rise to the idea that 
any change of system was intended, Henry Goul- 
burn, who was generally believed to be a member of 
the Orange Society, was joined with him as Chief 
Secretary. So far neither side had reason to be 
offended. But Wellesley in taking office had stipul- 
ated for the removal of Saurin and the appointment 



1 20 Daiiiel O ' Connell. [1821- 

of Plunket as Attorney-General. This for two 
reasons : First, because he felt it desirable to have 
someone sharing his opinions to represent him in 
the House of Commons, and secondly, because he 
recognised that the retention of Saurin, who repre- 
sented implacable resistance to the Catholic claims, 
was impossible if conciliation and not coercion was 
to be the order of the day. It had been intended 
to soften his removal by appointing him Chief- 
Justice of the King's Bench, with an Irish or even 
an English peerage ; but Saurin indignantly declined 
any compensation, whereupon Wellesley seized the 
opportunity to make Bushe, to whose eloquence and 
impartiality O'Connell had testified on the occasion 
of Magee's trial, Chief-Justice. His action exposed 
him to the fierce attacks of the Orangemen. In 
explaining his conduct Wellesley is reported to have 
said : 

" I have been told that I have ill-treated Mr. Saurin. 
I offered him the Chief-Justiceship of the King's Bench ; 
that was not ill-treating him. I offered him an English 
peerage ; that was not ill-treating him. I did not^ it is 
true, continue him in the viceroyalty of Ireland, for / 
am the Viceroy of Ireland." 

The Catholics were jubilant at the courage of the 
new Viceroy, and O'Connell, with his usual impulsive- 
ness to see good in the most trivial actions, was loud 
in his praise. On 7th January, 1822, the Catholics 
met to vote an address of welcome to the Lord 
Lieutenant, and in mioving it O'Connell gave ex- 
pression to the general satisfaction which his first 



1822] The King' s Visit. 121 

measures had created. " He could not," he said, 
'* regard him otherwise than as a representative, not 
only of power, but also of the kindly disposition of 
our beloved sovereign ; and therefore it was their 
duty, as well as their pleasure, to testify their respect 
towards him in the most emphatic manner." The 
address, seconded by Shell, whose production it 
was, was graciously received by his Excellency. But 
O'Connell was not content to rest on his oars. 
Something had, it was true, been achieved ; but not 
as yet emancipation, and he well knew what con- 
struction would be placed on their inaction. Kt- 
cordingly, without any loss of time, he issued another 
stirring address to the Catholics. Their liberty, he 
reminded them, could not be obtained without an 
effort on their own part. The appointment of the 
Marquis of Wellesley and the substitution of Plun- 
ket for Saurin were circumstances that cheered them 
amidst that sickness of heart which arose from hope 
deferred. Last year they had not petitioned Par- 
liament, but events had since occurred to induce 
them to make one exertion more to obtain from the 
British Parliament that liberty which they knew to 
be their right, but which they were ready to receive 
with all the affectionate gratitude due to the most 
gratuitous boon. If they were again defeated, they 
must patiently abide the great march of events, and 
hope for that tide of national reform which, though 
repulsed for the moment, was gaining ground with 
every breaker. The question arose as to what form 
their petition should take. It was clear that men's 
minds were divided on the subject of the veto. It 



12 2 Da 11 iel O ' Council . 



[1821- 



was evident that it had become a fixed principle with 
some of their advocates that emancipation must be 
accompanied with some Securities against foreign 
influence in the appointment of their bishops. It 
therefore behoved them to consider what conditions 
they could consent to without infringing the integ- 
rity of their religion. With this object in view he 
had himself drawn up a scheme for the domestic 
nomination of their prelates, which did not, in his 
opinion, infringe the liberties of the Church, and at the 
same time offered all reasonable security to the State. 
In the framing of it he had Plunket's advice, but if, 
on consideration of it, it was felt that no fragment 
of that sacred edifice, which their ancestors had left 
them as a most precious inheritance, could be touched 
with safety, why, then, let them one and all resolve, 
in the name of God, not to accept any civil rights 
at the expense of any danger whatsoever to their 
religion. 

An aggregate meeting on 13th February voted in 
favour of petitioning, but it again happened that no 
petition was presented to Parliament. The state of 
the country at large and the recrudescence of agra- 
rian crime rendered it, in Plunket's opinion, inadvis- 
able and, indeed, hopeless to broach the question. 
Instead of emancipation came an Insurrection Act. 
The brutal callousness of the remedy exasperated 
O'Connell. That disturbances existed, especially in 
the counties of Cork, Limerick, and Kerry, where 
the orders of " Captain Rock " found too ready 
obedience, he admitted ; but no one, he insisted, 
dreamed of connecting the Roman Catholics as a 



1822] The King's Visit. 123 

body with them, and it was as unjust as it was impos- 
sible to punish the whole country in order to suppress 
some isolated cases of outrage. Still it was, he felt, 
no time to start a constitutional agitation, which 
might be construed by their enemies as complicity 
in the agrarian movement, and it was with a heavy 
heart that he recognised the necessity of letting the 
subject rest. The fact was, that in his attempt to 
administer the law impartially Lord Wellesley had 
managed to alienate the sympathies of both parties 
in the State. Anxious above all to steer a neutral 
course, he had, instead of conciliating, only succeeded 
in offending the Orangemen and Catholics by turns. 
To the former the removal of Saurin, to the latter 
the Insurrection Act, was an inexpiable crime. 

The 1 2th July approached, and the Orangemen 
gave signs of their intention to celebrate the time- 
honoured custom of dressing the statue of King Wil- 
liam. The day before the anniversary, O'Connell 
addressed a public letter to the Marquis of Wellesley. 

" To-morrow," he wrote, " will finally decide the charac- 
ter of your administration. The oppressed and neglected 
Catholics of Ireland had fondly hoped that they might 
have obtained from 3.frie?id, placed in the exalted situa- 
tion which your Excellency occupies, a recommendation 
in favour of their claims. You took an early opportunity 
to crush that hope for ever. In your reply to the Ad- 
dress of the Catholics of the county of Clare, you told 
the Irish people that you came here to ' administer the 
laws, not to alter them.' My lord, but a few weeks elapsed 
when you deemed it expedient to recommend the Insur- 
rection Act, ?nd the Act to suspend the Habeas Corpus. 



124 Daniel O' Conjtell. [1821- 

That the latter was not needed is now admitted by every- 
body ; and that any necessityis a justification of the former 
remains, in my humble judgment, to be proved. But let 
these pass. It still remains for your Excellency to ad- 
77iinister the laws. . . . My Lord, I most respectfully, 
but at the same time most firmly, call upon you to admin- 
ister them. The exhibition intended (it is said) for to- 
morrow is plainly a violation of the law. It is an open 
and public excitement to a breach of the peace — it is a 
direct provocation to tumult — it obstructs the public 
streets, by collecting on the one side an insulting, and on 
the other an irritated, concourse of persons. ... As 
you cannot alter., I again respectfully, dutifully, but 
firmly call upon you to administer the law SiXii^ to suppress 
an illegal and insulting nuisance." 

This strong remonstrance was not without its effect 
on the Viceroy, and he made a feeble attempt to 
persuade the Orange leaders to desist from the irri- 
tating custom. But his entreaties were disregarded, 
and next day the statue was dressed as usual. The 
event, so far as O'Connell was concerned, had de- 
cided the character of the administration. 

It was, therefore, with a feeling of intense relief at 
escaping from an intolerable situation that, when the 
vacation came round, he set out to join his wife at 
Pau, in the south of France, whither he had sent her 
early in the year for the benefit of her health. After 
spending several delicious weeks there in the bosom 
of his family, and escorting them as far as Tours, 
where they were to pass the winter, he returned to 
Ireland. The situation had hardly altered during 
his absence. The Orangemen were busy, when he 



1822] The King's Visit. 125 

reached Dublin, with their preparations for celebrat- 
ing the birthday of their patron King, whose char- 
acter they ignorantly maligned, with greater splendour 
than usual. But the failure to prevent by entreaty 
the outrage that had occurred on 12th July had con- 
strained the Viceroy to take stronger measures. The 
ceremony of dressing William's statue was prohibited, 
and on the morning of 4th November a body of sol- 
diers was posted in College Green to see that his 
orders were executed. It is said that an adventurous 
Orangeman did actually, before the dawn broke, 
manage to throw a few trappings over it ; but the 
celebration was prevented. The Orangemen were 
wild with indignation, and it was even said that 
Saurin had pronounced the Viceroy's. conduct to be 
illegal. They had long been angry with him, and 
even his presence at their banquets had failed to sup- 
press the fashionable toast '' to the exports of Ire- 
land," — an equivocal rendering of the old saying, ^' A 
good riddance to bad rubbish," — with which his de- 
parture from the room was hailed. 

On 14th December these outrages on decency 
reached their climax. That evening the Viceroy vis- 
ited the Theatre Royal in state. On entering the 
viceregal box he was hailed with cheers mingled with 
groans and hisses. As the play, SJie Stoops to Conquer, 
proceeded the hisses and groans became more dis- 
tinct, and shouts were heard from the gallery of ''A 
groan for Wellesley ! " '' No Popish governors ! " 
When the curtain fell the band played '^ God save 
the King" and "St. Patrick's Day." During the 
music, first an apple hit the viceregal box, then came 



126 Da7iiel O' Co7inelL [1821- 

an empty quart bottle, which, striking the box just 
above the Viceroy's head, rebounded into the or- 
chestra. The theatre presented a scene of wild 
excitement ; ladies fainted ; shouts of ** Seize the 
miscreant ! " mingled with groans and hisses resounded 
from all sides, when suddenly a large piece of wood, 
part of a watchman's rattle, hit the cushion in front 
of the box and fell on to the stage. The confusion 
that followed was indescribable. In the midst of 
the tumult the Marquis was seen to rise from his 
seat and, pointing to a corner in the gallery, to 
address a few words to an aide-de-camp. In con- 
sequence of the riot several persons were arrested ; 
but neither in Dublin nor in London was the Govern- 
ment able to obtain a conviction. A subsequent in- 
quiry in the House of Commons revealed the strength 
and solidarity of the Orange Society, and showed 
how the institution of the jury was but as clay in 
the hands of the potter to those who were allowed 
to form the panel. 

Public sympathy was, however, unmistakably on 
the side of the Viceroy. Men of different political 
and religious creeds met together and passed resolu- 
tions condoling with him on the insult offered to him. 
At one of these meetings, in the Royal Exchange on 
20th December, with Lord Mayor Fleming in the 
chair, O'Connell, after alluding to the incident which 
had aroused the indignation, sorrow, and shame of the 
country, touched lightly on the events which had 
preceded this last unparallelled atrocity. These 
events, he said, it would, perhaps, be better to for- 
get ; and taking this atrocity for an example of the 



1822] The King's Visit. 127 

baneful and dangerous excesses of illegal associa- 
tions of every description, they should all unite and 
join in the universal inculcation of the salutary 
lesson, that loyalty, to be genuine, should be ra- 
tional ; and that loyalty was not the peculiar prerog- 
ative of one sect or another, but was the legitimate 
and appropriate characteristic of all his Majesty's 
subjects, of every class, every rank, and every de- 
nomination. The sermon was in fact intended quite 
as much for his own followers, the Catholics, as for 
their enemies, the Orangemen. How deeply he 
had been impressed by the revival of agrarian out- 
rage in the south of Ireland, followed as it had been 
by the Insurrection Act, every speech delivered by 
him at this time testifies. How often had he im- 
plored his countrymen to refrain from deeds of 
lawlessness lest a worse evil should befall them ! 
And now the evil had happened. What a handle 
had they given to their enemies ! What a pretext not 
only to refuse to emancipate them, but to load their 
slavery with more grievous shackles ! It was true, 
he admitted, that crime had abounded in the south. 
The Irish peasantry, in the insanity of their poverty 
and wretchedness, had taken up arms. In the dark 
hour of midnight, they prowled to the perpetration 
of horrible excesses. Of these he was not, God for- 
bid he should be, in the most distant degree, the 
apologist ; but it should be remembered that their 
wants and their wretchedness were extreme : it 
should not be forgotten that the weight of their 
misery pressed upon them so heavily as to provoke 
them in some degree to burst those bonds of order, 



1 2 8 Dan iel O ' Co7i7i ell. 



[1821 



which, under any circumstances, it was their bounden 
duty to observe and revere. 

But something more than sympathy, he felt, was 
needed if the Irish peasantry were to be saved from 
the consequences of their poverty and their crime. To 
weep with those who wept was doubtless very beauti- 
ful, but it was also very useless. And it was eminently 
characteristic of O'Connell that he no sooner recog- 
nised a grievance than he tried to find a practical 
remedy for it. Emancipation and the admission of 
the Catholics to the full enjoyment of civil rights 
was the object at which he aimed — not, indeed, the 
great object of his life, which was the restoration to 
Ireland of her rights as a nation. But practical good 
government, the impartial administration of the laws, 
the removal of crying grievances — these were much 
more to him than any ideal. And it was only 
because he saw in emancipation and the restoration 
of national rights the realisation of these objects 
that he struggled to obtain them. Emancipation 
was a step to Repeal : both merely a means to good 
government. Meanwhile the question that he had 
to face was how to get at these famine-, pestilence-, 
outrage-stricken peasants? How make them listen 
to the voice of wisdom and refrain from playing into 
the hands of their enemies? In England, men had 
no time to think of Ireland. They were ignorant 
and indifferent as to the causes of her distress. 
Parliament was too far ofT, and acts of coercion were 
easier of manipulation than acts to redress grievances. 
In Ireland itself, since the collapse of the feeble 
successor of the Catholic Board, there was no body 



1822] 



The Kmgs Visit. 



129 



of public opinion to which the peasants could refer 
themselves for advice ; no one to stand between 
them and their enemies. Ever that horrible Con- 
vention Act blocked the way. To get rid of it was 
impossible. How to evade it ? Long and deeply, 
all through the winter of that terrible year, 1822, 
did O'Connell ponder over the problem. The solu- 
tion came in the end, and unexpectedly brought 
with it the solution of the greater problem of 
emancipation. 




CHAPTER VII. 

FOUNDATION OF THE CATHOLIC ASSOCIATION. 
I 823-1 824. 

ONE day towards the latter end of April, 1823, 
O'Connell and a number of Catholic gentle- 
men met together in Dempsey's tavern, 
in Sackville Street. It was a place well known to 
Dublin citizens who loved a good glass of wine and 
a well-cooked chop or steak. Added to these attrac- 
tions, it possessed a large, lofty room, which, when 
the tavern was succeeded by Tyrrel's Library, 
formed the reading-room of that institution. It was 
this latter fact that had drawn O'Connell and his 
friends thither, and the fame of tavern and library 
has yielded to that of the little meeting. For it 
was here that the mighty Catholic Association, that 
shook the whole social fabric of Ireland to its basis, 
that wrested emancipation from a hostile administra- 
tion and made its influence felt on the bourses of 
Europe, had its birth. The meeting had been con- 
vened at the requisition of O'Connell and Sheil in 
order to consider the state of the Catholic question. 
Of late years there had been a practical suspension 

130 




< 

CO 



1823-18241 The Catholic Association. 131 

of agitation, and things had gone backward rather 
than forward with them. At the same time, how- 
ever, the old quarrel over the veto had lost much of 
its asperity, and no longer formed an insuperable 
obstacle to a reunion of all parties. A new genera- 
tion, too, had been springing up, and was beginning 
to take an active part in public affairs. Suffering 
had softened men's feelings toward each other, and 
there was no longer that antagonism between class 
and class that had worked havoc in their councils 
of the past. 

Moving Lord Killeen, the Earl of Fingal's son, 
who to high rank added sound views and a lofty 
spirit of independence unusual in a Catholic peer, 
into the chair, O'Connell rose to explain the object 
of the meeting. It was, he said, clear to everybody 
that the state of the Catholics of Ireland was at the 
moment more degrading, if not more hopeless, than it 
had ever been. No one, on the contrary, could ac- 
cuse their enemies, the Orangemen, of supineness. 
They were not only ready to use their opportunities, 
but to abuse them to the uttermost, whenever it was 
in their power, and it was useless to conceal that, if 
things went on as they had recently done, Catholic 
life and property would not in a little time be com- 
monly safe, even in the capital itself. Under the 
circumstances, it was dangerous to leave the people 
without some body of recognised friends to whom 
they could turn in their distresses and maddening 
sufferings for counsel, sympathy, and what aid there 
might be the means of giving. The meeting had 
been called to consider the possibility of forming 



132 Daniel O' Connell. [1823- 

some such public body. The recommendation was 
approved, and at a subsequent meeting it was re- 
solved to submit the suggestion to an aggregate as- 
sembly to be held on loth May. 

On that day Townshend Street chapel was filled 
with a concourse of Catholics anxious to listen to 
O'Connell's exposition of his scheme for the estab- 
lishment of a Catholic Association. What, he asked 
them, after briefly reviewing the course of events 
since the King's visit, what had been the result of 
their having so meritoriously conducted themselves ? 
Had it not been that their cause was abandoned ; 
that they had neglected their duty to themselves? 
They had lain quiescent, and permitted the daily 
promulgation of Orange calumny, fearful of infring- 
ing the commands of their sovereign. But there 
was a point beyond which experiment became dan- 
gerous. The Catholics were men — they were Irish- 
men, and felt within their burning breasts the force 
of natural rights and the injustice of unnatural op- 
pression. It was impossible that they should ever 
lie like torpid slaves under the lash of their oppress- 
ors. It was useless any longer to leave the interests 
of five millions of men, excluded from the benefits 
of the constitution, to the mere eleemosynary protec- 
tion of their advocates in Parliament, who, however 
well disposed to shield them from the persecu- 
tion, insult, and injustice of their oppressors, had 
neither the opportunities of becoming acquainted 
with their daily grievances, nor the time to devote 
to the study of the particular and peculiar circum- 
stances of their situation. Rather should it be their 



1824] The Catholic Association. 133 

care to attend to their own local affairs and, by the 
information they thereby obtained, to assist their 
parliamentary advocates in bringing to the contest 
useful and important knowledge as to the effects of 
the disabilities under which they groaned. When a 
Catholic Association existed, had they not succeeded, 
by addressing the suffering peasantry, in quelling 
three different attempts at insurrection ? Had a 
Catholic Association at the time existed, would they 
not have been able to warn the unsuspecting peas- 
antry against the villainy of persons who had an 
actual interest in promoting disaffection ? Had the 
Association existed, how many of their peasantry 
would have been saved to their families and homes ? 
Their advice would have been listened to, because it 
would have been known to be honest, and the coun- 
try would have been spared the infringement of the 
constitution and the enormous expense of an addi- 
tional police, with the irritation occasioned by sec- 
tarian yeomanry corps, which served no other purpose 
than to perpetuate strife and create a natural desire 
of revenge in the opposite parties. He begged to 
move the establishment of a Catholic Association, 
and the loud and prolonged cheers with which his 
proposal was greeted testified to the approval of 
his audience. 

The first step had been taken. A Catholic Asso- 
ciation was to be founded ; but the machinery that 
was to work it still remained to be invented. A day 
or two afterwards an informal meeting was held in 
Dempsey's tavern. At O'Connell's suggestion, such 
gentlemen as found themselves present at it resolved 



134 Daniel O'Connell. [1823- 

themselves into a Catholic Association. The annual 
subscription entitling to membership was fixed at 
one guinea, and the place of meeting Coyne's book- 
shop, No, 4 Capel Street. About fifty gentlemen at 
once subscribed their guineas, and with the ardour 
proper to new societies the Association met next day 
at Coyne's ; but the first regular meeting was post- 
poned till 20th May. It was called to consider the 
question of the appointment of a Catholic chaplain 
to Newgate gaol. The Association at once took 
fright. The terrors of the Convention Act loomed 
horridly before them, and an attempt was made to 
get rid of the dangerous topic by moving an adjourn- 
ment on the ground that the society was not suffi- 
ciently organised to occupy itself with matters of 
such deep importance ! O'Connell had to remind 
them that the object of the Association was not to 
force on Parliament the annual farce, or, more 
properly, a triennial interlude of a debate on the 
Catholic claims. Their purpose was with practical 
and not abstract questions — to shame the advocates 
of an unwise system, and, by exposing its corruption 
in all its branches, to show that it worked badly and 
impracticably for the country. He trusted they 
should have the assistance of men of every religious 
creed in melting down sectarian acrimony into a 
community of Irish feeling. There were many 
grievances under which the poor and unprotected 
Catholic peasant smarted that would not admit of 
waiting for redress until the day of emancipation 
arrived, and that might well be made the subjects of 
separate application to Parliament and the laws. 



1824] The Catholic Association. 135 

But all his eloquence was insufificient to inspire 
them with the necessary ardour to face the danger 
and drudgery of the work. A week after its first 
meeting, the Association was adjourned for lack of 
ten members to form the necessary quorum. It was 
dispiriting to O'Connell, after a hard day's work in 
the Four Courts, to hurry up to Coyne's, time after 
time, to find himself and O'Gorman the sole occu- 
pants of the room. Still he refused to be discouraged, 
and on 14th June he had the hardihood to congratu- 
late the few loiterers whom idleness or curiosity had 
attracted into the room on the diminution of crime 
that had occurred during the few weeks the Associa- 
tion had existed. 

The vacation he again spent abroad with his wife 
in France, returning to Ireland towards the latter end 
of October. All the while he had been pondering 
how to make the Association more popular, and to 
awaken a wider interest in its aims and objects. 
And it hardly needed the first few weeks that fol- 
lowed his return to show him that, unless something 
was done, and that speedily, there was a danger of 
the whole movement collapsing. The narrow two- 
roomed floor above Coyne's book-shop barely at 
best half-filled ; the intermittent attendance of 
members, some of whom had not even paid their 
subscriptions ; the bored air with which they listened 
to his speeches on the rights of Catholic sepulture, 
tithes, etc. ; the irregularity and indecent haste of 
their proceedings ; the impatience with which they 
awaited the conclusion of the business that should 
allow them to return to their homes ; the frequent 



136 Da7iiel O' Coniiell. [1823- 

adjournments that occurred owing to the impossi- 
biHty of getting a quorum of ten together; above 
all, the scanty driblets of money that found their 
way by circuitous routes into the treasury of the 
society — were signs, the meaning of which could not 
be mistaken. Money, indeed, was the chief difKi- 
culty. The moment sufificient money was forth- 
coming, the other dif^culties, O'Connell felt, would 
speedily solve themselves. The question was how 
to raise it. 

At a meeting on 24th January, 1824, one of the 
members, after pathetically alluding to the scanty 
attendance at their meetings, proposed that letters 
should be written to all the Roman Catholic peers, 
sons of peers, baronets, etc., etc., inviting them to 
become members of the Association. O'Connell 
opposed the proposal for two reasons. First, be- 
cause it would furnish an incentive to anonymous 
abuse at a time when the Catholics were so pitilessly 
assailed by Tory and Orange malignity, both in Eng- 
land and Ireland, that it behooved them in the de- 
fence of their own interests to be watchful and not 
intentionally to supply their enemies with weapons 
of offence. Secondly, because he had a scheme of 
his own for extending the influence of the society, 
by calling upon every Catholic in Ireland to con- 
tribute a monthly sum from one penny up to two 
shillings to the general fund. So that by a general 
effort of that kind the people of England should see 
that Catholic millions felt a deep interest in the 
cause, and that it was not, as was supposed, confined 
to those styled " agitators." 



1824] The Catholic Association. 137 

It was some time before he could find an oppor- 
tunity to expound his plan, owing to the rule of the 
Association, whereby, if after the lapse of half an 
hour from the time of meeting less than ten mem- 
bers were present, the meeting stood adjourned. 
So often did this happen that it became quite amus- 
ing to watch the cynicism with which the secretary, 
Purcell O'Gorman, regularly ten minutes before the 
half hour had elapsed placed his watch on the table, 
and, as it marked half-past three, returned it to 
his pocket, saying, " It 's half-past three, gentlemen, 
and ten members are not present : we must adjourn." 
The action grated on O'Connell's nerves. At last, 
on 4th February, the spell was broken. Punctually 
to the minute O'Gorman placed his watch on the 
table ; there were only, as usual, seven members 
present ; in ten minutes, unless fresh members ar- 
rived, the meeting would be adjourned. One minute 
more elapsed ; O'Connell could stand it no longer 
and, flinging away the newspaper he had been read- 
ing, hastily quitted the room. The six remaining 
members looked at each other aghast. Had it come 
to this at last ? Had the apathy of the Catholics at 
last succeeded in disgusting him into throwing up 
their cause ? The answer came directly. Rushing 
down-stairs, O'Connell passed an eighth member on 
his way up. In Coyne's shop he found two young 
priests purchasing books. It was the work of a 
moment to overcome their scruples, and returning 
with them to the room, just as O'Gorman was about 
to replace his watch in his pocket, he moved a Mr. 
Coppinger into the chair, and without further 



138 Daniel O' Co7i7iell, [1823- 

preliminary plunged in medias res. It was the last 
time in the history of the Association that a meeting 
was adjourned from insufficient attendance. There 
was no rule allowing a count-out, and the two young 
priests, terrified at the position in which they found 
themselves, speedily retired ; but other members 
arrived, and there was a fairly good attendance 
before the business of the meeting was concluded. 

To a meeting, one of the most important ever held 
in Ireland, got together in such fashion, O'Connell, 
after referring to the legal position in which they 
found themselves owing to the interpretation placed 
by Justice Downes on the Convention Act, pro- 
ceeded to unfold his scheme for the establishment 
of a Catholic Rent. The project he knew would be 
well abused and perhaps laughed at ; but in truth he 
was not the author of it. The idea had, in fact, orig- 
inated with Lord Kenmare in 1785. " There are," 
wrote his lordship to Dr. Moylan, '* two thousand 
five hundred Catholic parishes in the kingdom. Let 
us make a rent of one pound sterling a year upon 
each parish, and that, accumulating and forming a 
permanent fund, will be a powerful ally in the con- 
test for emancipation." His own plan was some- 
what more comprehensive. There were seven millions 
of Catholics in Ireland. Supposing that less than a 
quarter of them were to contribute one penny each 
indWidual in the month, there would be no difficulty 
in raising at least ;^5o,ooo a year. The feasibility of 
the plan was obvious. He remembered that in 18 12 
he himself had proposed and set on foot a temporary 
subscription, and in three parishes alone he had 



1824] The Catholic Association. 1 39 

collected ^79, which had gone into the funds of the 
Catholic Board. The collection would then have 
been continued under a regular organisation, had not 
miserable disputes arisen between what was called 
the Catholic aristocracy and the Catholic democracy 
and upset everything. He promised that no such 
result should follow the present experiment. He 
himself would carefully superintend and work out 
most perseveringly every detail of his plan, and 
would not abandon it but with life. He was thor- 
oughly and entirely convinced, not only of its prac- 
ticability, but of its certain efficaciousness for its 
purposes. At the same time it was only natural that 
people who were called upon to subscribe their 
money should desire to have some idea how that 
money was to be spent. Granted then that ;^50,ooo 
were annually forthcoming, he had five distinct and 
decided objects in view. His first object was the 
collection and conveying of petitions to Parliament, 
not only on the subject of Catholic emancipation 
but upon that of every other grievance of whatever 
kind that pressed upon the country, together with 
the appointment of a parliamentary agent in Lon- 
don. To this end he would set aside ;^5ooo. His 
second object was the promotion of a more friendly 
feeling on the part of the public towards the Catho- 
lics, by supporting the liberal press both in London 
and Dublin. Less than ;^ 15,000 for this purpose he 
thought would be insufficient. His third object was 
to provide legal protection for the Catholics against 
Orange oppression. This suggestion, coming from 
the quarter it did, might cause him to be sneered at ; 



140 Daniel O' Co7melL [1823- 

but it was really frightful to think of the oppressions 
which it was in the power of a magistrate, tinged with 
Orange principles, to inflict upon the people. Allo- 
cating ;^ 1 5,000 for this purpose, there would still 
remain ^15,000. Of this he proposed to set aside 
;£"5000 for the education of the Catholic poor; ^{^5000 
for the education of Catholic priests for the service of 
America ; the remaining i^5000 to be held over to 
accumulate and be applied to the building of chapels, 
taking farms in the several parishes and erecting a 
house upon each for the Catholic clergyman. 

The meeting listened, half credulously, half 
amusedly, to the exposition of hispenny-a-month plan 
for liberating Ireland ; but it agreed by a majority 
of twenty-one to four to print the report. The pub- 
lic, as he had predicted, laughed heartily at his new 
project ; but it was clear, when he arose to address 
an aggregate meeting a fortnight later in Townshend 
Street chapel on the desirability of petitioning Parlia- 
ment, that he had at last, after long years of unappreci- 
ated labour, succeeded in touching the heart of the 
nation. The rapturous cheers with which he was 
greeted approved his declaration that the scheme 
was a feasible one, and were tokens that in its adop- 
tion a new day had dawned for him and for Ireland. 
The long night of apathy and despair had passed 
away, the dawn was breaking, the hour of the na- 
tion's awakening had sounded. Hitherto, as he told 
his audience, the best exertions of the Catholics had 
been frustrated owing to the want of pecuniary 
means. A general subscription would overcome that 
difficulty. He only asked for a penny a month, — 



1824] 



The Catholic Association. 141 



a farthing a week, — and the response of his listeners, 
as with one voice they shouted, " You shall have it," 
was in this instance no mere evanescent explosion 
of popular enthusiasm. The harvest indeed was 
there, ripe unto reaping ; but the labourers at first 
were few, and the task of organising the Rent taxed 
O'Connell's powers to the utmost. 

Beginning in the towns, the collection of the Rent 
was at first undertaken by volunteers, who formed 
themselves into committees, divided the towns into 
'* walks," and remitted their funds through their sec- 
retaries to the central association in Dublin. Little 
by little the organisation spread to the neighbouring 
parishes, and thence into the remotest parts of the 
country. As it grew, its objects developed. Com- 
mittee rooms were hired, weekly meetings estab- 
lished, and matters of public importance discussed at 
them. The result was magical. Instead of one As- 
sociation, exercising a limited influence, a hundred 
sprang into existence, following more or less closely 
on the lines of the parent institution, each forming 
and leading public opinion in the district in which it 
was located, and spreading a knowledge of the aims 
and objects of the Association into every quarter of 
the island. Not only was the collection of the Rent 
thereby facilitated and the funds of the society in- 
creased, but a means of communication was estab- 
lished between the leaders of the movement in 
Dublin and the peasantry scattered over the coun- 
try, which enabled the former to control it and to 
secure instant obedience for their commands. A 
spirit of inquiry was awakened in the masses of the 



142 Daniel O'Connell. [1823- 

people, and a passion created in them for political 
discussion. They began to read the papers in which 
their proceedings were recorded and their contribu- 
tions acknowledged, and finding themselves not so 
insignificant as they had hitherto imagined, assumed 
a bolder and more independent deportment. Nor 
was this all : each committee formed a sort of tribunal 
for the adjustment of local disputes, for redressing 
grievances and the protection of the oppressed. In- 
tolerance and injustice trembled before it ; the vil- 
lage tyrant hated and feared it ; the peasant appealed 
to it and obeyed it. The clergy, too, animated by a 
few of their dignitaries, and above all by the exam- 
ple of the pious and learned Bishop of Kildare and 
Leighlin, Dr. Doyle, threw themselves, after a little 
hesitation, into the movement, thereby giving to it a 
moral sanction of infinite value, and acquiring for 
themselves a firm hold on the affection and obedi- 
ence of their flocks. 

As the effects of the Association became apparent 
hope was rekindled in the breasts of the peasantry. 
They felt that something, to use their own words, 
was being done for them also. It awoke a new life 
in them. It was their first step out of servitude 
into nationality. Their gratitude to the author of 
it was unbounded. To O'Connell, notwithstanding 
his modest disclaimer to be the originator of the 
scheme, they ascribed, and rightly ascribed, their re- 
generation. O'Connell indeed was the life and soul, 
the creator and sustainer of the whole movement. 
Without him — without his enthusiasm, it would 
never have existed : without him — without his 




BISHOP DOYLE. 

FROM A PAINTING BY HAVERTY. 



1824] The Catholic Association. 143 

guiding hand, it would have run into illegal courses, 
and have lost its influence. But even O'Connell did 
not at first perceive the full consequence of his plan. 
So far as annual revenue went, he was doomed to 
disappointnaent ; but the establishment of the Rent 
did more than he had ever dreamt of. It called a 
nation into existence. For himself, it was the begin- 
ning of that extraordinary popularity which was the 
wonder and envy of mankind. Hitherto he had 
been only one of their leaders ; but the establish- 
ment of the Rent lifted him in the imagination of 
his countrymen into a unique position. Everywhere 
he went, on circuit, he met with an ovation ; willing 
hands dragged his carriage and banquets met him at 
every turn. His popularity gratified him. He felt 
his power, and did all that he could to promote it. 
But his ambition was for his country, not for himself ; 
and herein lay the secret of his popularity and 
influence. 




CHAPTER VIII. 

THE ATTACK ON THE CATHOLIC ASSOCIATION. 

1824-1825. 

THE progress of the Association was rapid. Very 
soon the narrow two-roomed floor in Capel 
Street became inconveniently small for the 
transaction of the business devolving upon it, and in 
October it moved into more spacious premises in the 
Corn Exchange, on Ussher's quay. 

Meanwhile Government, which had regarded the 
establishment of the Association with languid inter- 
est, began to feel alarmed as it realised how formid- 
able the movement was becoming. It was impossible 
to watch the growth of this imperium in imperio with 
complacency ; but the difficulty was, how to meet it, 
seeing that it violated no existing law. There were, 
Peel wrote to Goulburn, on 6th November, several 
alternatives before them. They might do nothing, 
and let the Association take its course, trusting to 
the chance of disunion among its members, or of 
their bringing discredit upon themselves by the 
folly of their proceedings. Still it was impossible 
to deny that the evils of forbearance and delay were 

144 



1825] Attack on the Catholic Association. 145 

very great ; the friends of Government would be 
dismayed and disheartened, while the Association 
gained in firmness and consistency. On the other 
hand, they might take advantage of any violation of 
the law to strike a blow at the Association, or go to 
Parliament and ask for a new law to suppress it 
entirely. Such a special law would of course cause 
a great outcry, but the appeal to the legislature 
would at least have the advantage of affording a full 
exposition of the danger that confronted them. 
The Duke of Wellington took an even more serious 
view of the situation, and thought that everything 
portended a civil war sooner or later. Curiously 
enough, Goulburn, who as being on the spot might 
have been expected to be more seriously alarmed, 
quietly ridiculed Wellington's idea of an insur- 
rection. ''Those," he wrote on 14th December, 

" who look to immediate and combined insurrection ap- 
pear to me to mistake the nature of the danger. I can- 
not, as yet, trace the existence of any such project. I 
do not believe that it exists. The people have no mili- 
tary organisation, no adequate supply of arms, no pe- 
cuniary resources, no regular leaders. The immediate 
danger that I contemplate is a sudden ebullition of fa- 
natical fury in particular places, originating not in any 
settled or premeditated plan, but in some casual circum- 
stances operating upon the mind of a people easily ex- 
cited at all times and now in a state of unusual and 
extreme excitation." 

While the anti-Catholic members of the adminis- 
tration were thus deliberating, doubtful as to the 
advisability of taking any immediate steps, the Lord 



146 Daniel O' Connell. [1824- 

Lieutenant, who prided himself on his friendship to 
the Catholics, precipitated matters by instituting 
proceedings against O'Connell for seditious lan- 
guage. The words complained of were contained in 
a speech delivered at the Association on i6th De- 
cember. " Nations," he was reported to have said, 

" had been driven mad by oppression. He hoped that 
Ireland would never be driven to the system pursued by 
the Greeks. He trusted in God they would never be so 
driven. He hoped Ireland would be restored to her 
rights ; but if ever that day should arrive — if she were 
driven mad by persecution, he hoped that a new Bolivar 
might be found — that the spirit of the Greeks and that 
of the South Americans might animate the people of 
Ireland." 

Such were the words of the speech as reported in 
Saunders s News-Letter. But that the Irish govern- 
ment should have selected especially these upon 
which to base a prosecution, just at the moment 
when England had determined formally to recognise 
the independence of the Spanish-American republics, 
was matter for general wonder. '' The King," wrote 
Peel to Lord Liverpool, ** says he sees much incon- 
sistency in prosecuting O'Connell and afterwards 
recognising Bolivar." The remark, coming from the 
quarter it did, might be regarded as a hit at Canning 
rather than as expressive of any sympathy for O'Con- 
nell. But the fact that in their anxiety to strike a 
blow at the Association the advisers of his Excel- 
lency could find nothing in any of O'Connell's nu- 
merous speeches more savouring of encouragement 



1825] Attack on the Catholic Association. 147 

to rebellion than this passing reference to Bolivar, 
speaks volumes for the pacific tendency of his agita- 
tion. That no one but the blindest partisan could 
ever have dreamt of imputing to him anything like 
an appeal to arms may now be readily admitted. 
But the phenomenon of a peaceful agitation, of an 
agitation resting on constitutional grounds and ap- 
pealing for its support to law-abiding citizens, was at 
the time so novel that no one, and least of all Gov- 
ernment, could believe in its sincerity. The situation, 
too, was by no means so simple as at first sight it 
might appear. O'Connell had referred to Bolivar: 
at the same moment a rabid Orangeman, Sir Har- 
court Lees by name, had published what the Chief 
Secretary, without exaggeration, described as a 
''most furious letter" to the Protestants of Ulster, 
calling upon them to arm against the Catholics, and 
announcing his intention of placing himself at their 
head " because the Government was so weak as to 
despise the danger of the Protestants and to decline 
supplying them with arms." This letter the law 
officers of the Crown pronounced a fit subject for 
prosecution. 

The fact was, that men's minds, especially in the 
North where the insane ravings of one Pastorini, pre- 
dicting the extirpation of all heretics in Ireland in 
i825,hadcaughtfirmhold on the popular imagination, 
were in a state of intense excitement. The Catho- 
lic hierarchy had condemned Pastorini's prophecies ; 
O'Connell had lifted his voice in behalf of law and 
order ; the Association had issued a strong appeal to 
the peasantry to refrain from secret societies and 



148 Daniel O'Connell. [1824- 

open violence. Could Government have allied itself 
with the Association, it might have been better for 
Ireland. But under the circumstances this was im- 
possible. In one sense the Association was merely 
the Catholic Board revived. It was even more for- 
midable than ever the Board had been. It evaded 
the Convention Act, and no government with any 
pretentions to be a government could afford to see 
its powers and functions usurped by a quasi-illegal 
society. True, the Association was on the side of 
law and order ; its influence, felt throughout the 
length and breadth of the land, was a good one. But 
its existence per se was objectionable ; it was an im- 
perium in imperio ; it usurped the office and char- 
acter of a government ; it inflamed the Protestants, 
who saw in it a formidable conspiracy against the 
liberties of the minority. That this was not its ob- 
ject, that it was essentially a peaceful association for 
the defence of the defenceless, was not to be believed. 
Such then was the practical issue of the Marquis 
of Wellesley's attempt to '' administer the laws." 
Instead of conciliating Orangemen and CathoHcs he 
had succeeded only in setting them over against each 
other in two hostile camps. His equestrian feat of 
trying to ride two horses, pulling in opposite direc- 
tions, had ended in a fall to the ground. The at- 
tempt to secure the conviction of Sir Harcourt 
Lees failed : the prosecution of O'Connell proved a 
farce. The words imputed to him could not be 
proved against him. The one witness on whose 
evidence the Government rested — the reporter of 
Saunders s News-Letter — ignominiously swore he 



1825] Attack on the Catholic Association. 149 

had been asleep when the words were uttered, and 
on New Year's Day, 1825, the grand jury threw out 
the bills against him. 

O'Connell's acquittal naturally added to his popul- 
arity and to the strength of the Association. The 
cheers that greeted him, on his next appearance, 
plainly told him so. But the result of the prosecu- 
tion, as he reminded his audience, was not merely a 
personal triumph. It was a triumph for every man 
in the country that valued the existence of the 
British Constitution and estimated his privileges as 
a freeman. For that constitution, for those privi- 
leges, he was ready to shed his blood to the last drop. 
Had he not given seven hostages to the State as se- 
curity for his fidelity ? Had he not a profession the 
most abundant in its return for his labours ? Had 
he not, independent of that profession, a property 
sufficient to support him in a style of independence 
suitable to his station as the descendant of one of the 
most ancient families of the land ? Would he not 
then be the most doting driveller in existence to 
imagine that at his age, and under his circumstances, 
he could be a gainer, or that his country would be 
benefited, by an armed organisation of barefooted, 
turbulent, undisciplined peasantry, against the mar- 
shalled troops of the Empire? No, he would rather 
submit to the consequences of their present degra- 
dation than that a single tear should make any por- 
tion of the cup of doubtful happiness to be obtained 
by a national commotion. But the Association, it 
was said, was not to be allowed to enjoy its triumph. 
Even while he spoke, a rumour had reached him of 



150 Daniel O' Connell. [1824- 

the intention of the Government to proceed against 
it directly. The Association, he knew, might be 
suppressed, but Government could hardly prohibit 
their assembling to dine together. The Association 
was the creature of the penal laws; and as long as 
Catholic disabilities existed, so long must the Catho- 
lics possess some organ through which to convey 
their complaints, to proclaim their grievances, and to 
demand their redress. 

The rumour that Government intended to suppress 
the Association proved well founded. The King's 
speech, at the opening of Parliament on 3rd February, 
expressed a regret that, while the condition of the 
country generally showed signs of improvement, and 
the outrages, for the suppression of which extra- 
ordinary powers had been required, had ceased, asso- 
ciations existed in Ireland irreconcilable with the 
spirit of the constitution, and calculated, by exciting 
alarm and by exasperating animosity, to endanger 
the peace of society and retard the course of national 
improvement. It was remarked that it was not asso- 
ciation, but associations in the plural, that was spoken 
of. 

" Let not that little s deceive any person," said 
Brougham. " I know the reflection that passed through 
the mind of the writer. . . . However it may be in- 
tended to hold the balance even between the Catholic 
and Orange associations, depend upon it, it will only be 
a nominal equality. The Catholic Association will be 
strongly put down with one hand, while the Orange Asso- 
ciation will only receive a gentle tap with the other." 

The policy foreshadowed in the King's speech was 



1825] Attack on the Catholic Association. 151 

confirmed a week later by the introduction by Goul- 
burn of a Bill for the suppression of the Catholic As- 
sociation and the Orange Lodges. It was supported 
by Canning and Plunket, though, as Brougham pre- 
dicted, it was chiefly directed against the former, 
rendering illegal every society constituted *' for the 
purpose of procuring the redress of grievances in 
Church or State," ''which shall continue their meet- 
ings for a longer time than fourteen days from their 
first meeting," or " which shall authorise any body or 
bodies to levy or receive any money or contributions 
from his Majesty's subjects," or ** which shall admin- 
ister any oaths whatever at times and places not re- 
quired by law to the exclusion of persons of any 
form of religious faith." At the same time special 
care was taken to exclude from its provisions all 
societies formed for religious worship, or acting 
*' merely for purposes of public or private charity, 
science, agriculture, manufactures, or commerce." 
The importance of this saving clause did not escape 
the notice of O'Connell. 

At the first announcement of Goulburn's Bill, the 
Association took instant measures to be heard at the 
Bar of the House of Commons in their defence. On 
lOth February a deputation, consisting of O'Connell, 
Sir Thomas Esmonde, Shell, and other influential 
persons, was appointed to proceed immediately to 
London, for the purpose of conferring with their 
friends in Parliament and supplying them with such 
information as might be useful during the impending 
struggle. It was with extreme reluctance that O'Con- 
nell consented to form one of the deputation. 



152 Daniel O' Conjiell. [1824~ 

" It is," he wrote to his wife, " a sacrifice — certainly a 
great sacrifice — and you must not be angry if I meet 
nothing but ingratitude in return. No man should ever 
expect gratitude from the public. I wish to God I 
could make my motives so pure and disinterested as to 
care little for gratitude or applause." 

Travelling as rapidly as possible, the deputation at- 
tracted considerable attention in passing through the 
principal towns on their route, especially O'Connell, 
who in his large cloak — a survival to all appearance 
of the ancient Irish mantle — formed a conspicuous 
object on the box of the landau. At Wolverhampton 
they turned aside for a moment to pay their respects 
to Dr.' Milner, whose uncompromising opposition in 
earlier days to the veto had won O'Connell's grati- 
tude. With some difficulty they found the venerable 
prelate sitting before his kitchen fire, sipping the 
cup of chocolate that formed his simple breakfast. 
But age had obscured his recollection, and he scarcely 
remembered O'Connell's name. A reference to his 
old feud with Charles Butler brought a momentary 
flash into his lustre-dimmed eyes ; but the visit was 
a melancholy one, and after a little desultory con- 
versation the deputation took their departure. 
Reaching London about midday on i8th February, 
O'Connell took up his quarters at Cooke's Hotel, in 
Albemarle Street, and with his companions at once 
proceeded to call on Sir Francis Burdett, the new 
manager of the Catholic business, " an elegant 
gentleman, with an English coldness about him," as 
O'Connell described him to his wife ; but " improving 
on acquaintance." After some conversation they 



1825] Attack on the Catholic Association. 153 

repaired in his company to the House of Commons, 
and being provided with seats under the gallery, 
O'Connell saw the Speaker measure him with his 
glass. Several members came up to shake hands 
with him ; but his first impression of the " Honour- 
able House " was not very favourable. With the 
exception of Peel none of those opposed to Catholic 
emancipation struck him as able speakers, and among 
their friends there was a want of zeal that was 
depressing. Still he was on the whole sanguine that 
some good would come out of their visit ; and his 
opinion gathered strength as time went on. 

Despite the advocacy of Brougham, Mackintosh, 
and Burdett, the House of Commons refused to hear 
counsel at the Bar on behalf of the Catholic Associa- 
tion, and on 25th February the Bill for the suppres- 
sion of illegal societies in Ireland, or, as O'Connell 
with more force than propriety dubbed it, the '' Al- 
gerine Act," passed its third reading, becoming law 
within a month after it had been introduced. But the 
unanimity with which it had passed through Par- 
liament did not prevent those who, while they 
deprecated the Association itself, nevertheless sympa- 
thised with its aims, from giving expression to their 
opinion that the fane of the constitution was dis- 
honoured so long as its gates were closed against 
millions of their fellow-subjects. In fact, instead of 
retarding, the *' Algerine Act " rather stimulated, 
the cause of Emancipation. Urged by O'Connell, 
Burdett at once invited the House of Commons to 
take into its consideration the Catholic claims, and 
three days after the third reading of the Suppression 



154 Daniel O' Connell. [1824- 

Bill the House, by a majority of thirteen, granted 
leave to introduce a Catholic Relief Bill. The re- 
sult was gratifying. Provided emancipation were 
conceded. Parliament was welcome to suppress the 
Association. Nor was this the only benefit that 
followed from it. 

During the debate on the Suppression Bill, select 
committees of both Houses had been appointed to 
consider the general condition of Ireland. On 25th 
February O'Connell was invited to give evidence 
before the Committee of the House of Commons. 
His examination, conducted chiefly by Sir Henry 
Parnell and Spring Rice, touched the increase and 
state of the peasantry and the conditions of land 
tenure in Ireland. Several pertinent questions were 
put to him by Lords Milton and Althorp, and during 
the greater part of the time Peel was in the room. 
O'Connell was gratified at the reception accorded him, 
and by the modesty of his demeanour, the clearness 
and moderation of his replies, afforded general satis- 
faction. The day following he addressed a meeting 
of Catholics in the Freemasons' Tavern, and spoke for 
three hours to an audience " as cheering and en- 
thusiastic as ever a Dublin aggregate could be." 
The same evening he dined with the deputation at 
Lord Stourton's, occupying the place of honour, be- 
tween his host and the Duke of Norfolk, and being 
lionised by everybody. On Sunday, the 27th, the 
deputation dined at Brougham's, O'Connell sitting 
between the Dukes of Devonshire and Leinster, and 
opposite the Duke of Sussex, who impressed him 
unfavourably. On 3rd March he presided at a large 




2 I 

5 P 



^ I 



CO o 

§ s 

2 

UJ < 

1 ^ 
\- o 



1825] Attack oil the Catholic Assocmttofi. 155 

charity dinner, when he was nearly crushed to death 
by ladies anxious to shake hands with him. The 
following day he was again examined before the 
Committee of the House of Commons on every sub- 
ject relating to the Catholics of Ireland — the people, 
Church, friars, priests, Jesuits, etc., and had the 
satisfaction of hearing from Colonel Dawson, Peel's 
brother-in-law and member of Parliament for Derry, 
that he had removed many of his prejudices. A day 
or two afterwards he went through the same ordeal 
before the Lords' Committee. His examination lasted 
four hours, and was confined entirely to the state of 
the administration of justice, from the highest to the 
lowest jurisdiction, police included. His deportment 
struck Lord Colchester, who when Speaker of the 
House of Commons had moved the rejection of the 
Relief Bill of 1814, as "affectedly respectful and 
gentle, except in a few answers, where he displayed a 
fierceness of tone and aspect." Perhaps O'Connell's 
opinion coincided with that of Dr. Doyle, who after 
his examination before their lordships remarked : 
'' Pshaw ! such silly questions as they put ! I think 
in all my life I never encountered such a parcel of 
old fools." 

But after the success of Burdett's motion, his time 
was chiefly occupied in assisting to draft a Catholic 
Relief Bill. On 7th March, in a letter to the chair- 
man of the moribund Catholic Association, he 
sketched the Bill in outline, intimating, without 
signifying any disapproval, that it was intended to 
accompany it with two subsidiary measures, the one 
raising the electoral franchise in the county from 



156 Daniel O' Connell. [1824- 

forty shillings to ;^io, the other making provision 
for a State endowment of the Catholic clergy. The 
letter, or at any rate the gist of it, found its way into 
the papers, and caused much mischief. To say the 
least, it was precipitate and ill-advised. But in fact 
O'Connell, in making the communication, was wholly 
unaware that he was walking on brittle ice. So far 
as raising the electoral franchise was concerned, he 
was in entire agreement with the proposal, and in the 
face of his evidence before the House of Commons' 
Committee, it is ridiculous to urge that he merely 
acquiesced in it as the necessary price of emancipa- 
tion. On the contrary, he was as anxious as every 
sensible man in the community to have the forty- 
shilling freeholders abolished. For, as the absolute 
slaves of the large landed proprietors, they had 
hitherto proved nothing but a drag on the cause of 
progress, swamping by their venal votes the preten- 
sions of every independent candidate. That these 
despised forty-shilling freeholders would at no very 
distant date, in the enthusiasm of the national 
struggle, throw off their yoke and exercise their 
privileges against their masters, was what no one 
could have imagined. 

For the other matter — the State endowment of the 
Catholic clergy — it was a matter which, in O'Connell's 
opinion, concerned them alone. For himself, granted 
that emancipation was conceded, he could see no 
harm in a proposal which would merely put them 
on a level with their brethren of the Established 
Church. " The Bishops," he wrote on 14th March, 
** are here, and to them are referred all questions as 



1825] Attack on the Catholic Association. 157 

to the acceptance of a provision and the details of 
such provision if accepted, which, without Emancipa- 
tion, could not possibly be." Here, again, he did not 
know that he was unconsciously misinterpreting the 
view of the Irish hierarchy. Two days after he had 
written the above, Bishop Doyle was examined by 
the Committee of the House of Commons. 

" Yesterday," notes Lord Colchester in his Diary under 
date 17th March, " Dr. Doyle was examined by the 
Committee of the House of Commons on Ireland. He 
positively objected to any interference of a Protestant 
sovereign in the nomination or recommendation or con- 
trol in choice of Roman Catholic clergy as prelates or 
parish priests ; unwilling to receive any State provision ; 
rejecting it absolutely unless equality of civil rights were 
given to the Roman Catholic laity; and even then would 
accept such provision only as permanently annexed to 
each benefice or dignity." 

Now it must be confessed that the natural inter- 
pretation to be placed on this paragraph is precisely 
what O'Connell placed on it, viz., that, if emancipa- 
tion, i. e., equality of civil rights for the Catholic 
laity, was conceded, the Catholic clergy would accept 
of a State provision. But this, it was soon to appear, 
was not the meaning attached by Bishop Doyle to 
his words. The misunderstanding had the disastrous 
effect of causing a quarrel between him and O'Con- 
nell ; but while admitting that the latter possibly 
misinterpreted the Bishop's meaning, it must be al- 
lowed that the misinterpretation was a very natural 
one. 



158 Daniel O'ConnelL [1824- 

Believing, therefore, that the cause was progress- 
ing favourably and rapidly, it was with no little sur- 
prise and indignation that O'Connell, on opening his 
paper one morning, came across a *' furious tirade " 
against him, charging him, amongst other things, 
with ** surrendering his former principles," and '' sell- 
ing the people for a silk gown." The author of the 
letter, John Lawless, or, as his admirers called him, 
" honest Jack Lawless," figured as the Cobbett of 
Ireland. Though not one of the deputation, he had 
thought it his duty to accompany it to London in 
order to superintend its proceedings and to prevent 
any lapse on its part from good old Radical doctrines. 
His vigilance had not been unrewarded. He had 
seen, or imagined he had seen, with sorrow how the 
blandishments of the aristocracy had destroyed the 
moral backbone of the deputation, how '' the Circean 
cup of their hospitality " had robbed O'Connell of 
his senses, and how in his delirium he had sacrificed 
the forty-shilling freeholders in the hope of personal 
advancement. Well for Ireland was it, in his opin- 
ion, that he, her incorruptible advocate, was at hand 
to raise the alarm. And there was a grain of truth 
in his strictures. O'Connell had indeed sacrificed 
the forty-shilling freeholders ; but the imputation of 
having acted from personal motives was as ridiculous 
as it was indecent. Fearing, however, that the letter 
would cause "extreme mischief" in England, and 
" raise a flame in Ireland," O'Connell at once penned 
a reply to it, and dismissed the subject from his mind. 

Early in April, between the first and second read- 
ings of the Bill, he paid a visit to Ireland, and on 



1825] Attack on the Catholic Association. 159 

14th April addressed a large aggregate meeting in 
Dublin. Nothing on that occasion was said about 
the *' Wings," as the two supplementary bills for the 
endowment of the clergy and the disfranchisement of 
the forty-shilling freeholders were called, and on the 
return of the deputation to London it was agreed 
to leave them to the discretion of Government, in 
the expectation that by doing so the main measure 
would pass. On 21st April the Bill passed by 268 
to 241 and was read for a third time without a divis- 
ion on loth May. The hopes of the Emancipation- 
ists beat high, and it was supposed that the Lords 
must yield. But their hopes were doomed to dis- 
appointment. On i8th May the House of Lords, 
rallying to the " No Popery " speech of the Duke of 
York, rejected the Bill on its second reading by 178 
to 130. O'Connell, who had been led to believe that 
it was to have been regarded as a Government meas- 
ure, was indignant at the perfidy with which he had 
been treated by Lord Liverpool, and publicly abused 
him as '* a half-honest man," "a driveller of Dr. 
Duigenan's school, who had changed his tone in 
consequence of the Duke of York's speech." At the 
same time he announced his intention of reviving 
the Catholic Association, promising for himself that 
he would always be an agitator. 

On the first of June he landed at Howth. The 
news of his defeat had preceded him. Lawless had 
stirred up a spirit of opposition to his leadership ; 
but neither had materially affected his popularity. 
An immense crowd was awaiting his arrival on the 
quay, and as he stepped ashore cheer after cheer 



i6o Daniel O' Co7inell. 



[1824- 



rent the air, hats were waved, and handkerchiefs flut- 
tered in the breeze. All the way to Dublin the road 
was lined with men, women, and children cheering 
him as he drove homewards through their midst. 
At Annesley Bridge the enthusiasm redoubled itself ; 
the horses were taken from his carriage, and he was 
dragged victoriously through the streets to his house 
in Merrion Square. Here a fresh ovation awaited 
him, and in response to cries for a speech he stepped 
on the balcony to address a few heartfelt words of 
thanks to them. A week later he addressed an ag- 
gregate meeting of Catholics in Anne Street chapel, 
''the most numerous and most enthusiastic," he 
thought, that had ever assembled in Dublin. As he 
stepped on to the platform, dressed in the uniform 
of the Association, in blue frock coat, with a gilt 
button on the shoulder, yellow vest, and white trou- 
sers, the entire audience started to its feet and cheered 
him for several minutes. Hardly had the cheers 
subsided when Lawless started up to put a resolution 
expressing disapproval of the conduct of the deput- 
ation in London. The indignation of the meeting 
was intense, and it required all O'Connell's influence 
to procure a hearing for him. But, recognising the fu- 
tility of his attempt. Lawless wisely withdrew his 
motion, with the sly remark that he was glad to see 
O'Connell had been reconverted to his old views on 
the subject of the forty-shilling freeholders and the 
endowment of the Catholic clergy. Disdaining to 
notice the innuendo implied in his remark, O'Connell 
at once plunged into the business for which the 
meeting had been summoned, viz., the appointment 



1825] Attack on the Catholic Association. i6i 

of a committee to consider the possibility of starting 
a new Association to carry on the work of the old 
one without infringing the provisions of the Sup- 
pression Act. A committee of twenty-one was ac- 
cordingly appointed, and after sitting for fifteen 
days, waiting, in fact, till the prorogation of Parlia- 
ment prevented the possibility of any immediate 
fresh legislation against them, it reported to another 
aggregate meeting on 13th July. 

In submitting the report, O'Connell announced 
that the committee, while resolved " to obey a statute 
they could not respect," " were convinced that a 
new Association might be formed which would con- 
solidate the constitutional resources of the Catholic 
body, without in any way infringing the Act recently 
passed." To accomplish this it was necessary to 
consider what the new law allowed, and what it did 
not allow. Taking the latter first : it was illegal for 
the new Association to concern itself with the prepa- 
ration and management of petitions for the repeal of 
the penal laws, or for any other purposes. That 
could only be done by an aggregate meeting ; but as 
the law limited the duration of such meetings to 
fourteen days — a period too short in which to collect 
the general opinion of the Catholic body — it would 
henceforth be necessary that aggregate meetings 
should be held simultaneously in every county in 
Ireland. As for the new Catholic Association, it was 
to be formed merely for the purposes of public or 
private charity and such other purposes as were not 
prohibited by the statute VI. Geo. IV., cap. 4. Its ob- 
jects would be the promotion of pubhc peace and 



1 62 Daniel O' Connell. [1824- 

concord ; the encouragement of an enlightened and 
religious system of education founded on the basis 
of Christian charity and perfect fair dealing ; the 
taking of a religious census ; the rendering of aid in 
the erection of places of Catholic worship ; the pro- 
motion of improvements in agriculture and manu- 
factures ; and the diffusion of information calculated 
to advance the cause of religious toleration by sup- 
port given to a liberal press. 

It was soon to appear that under these specious 
pretexts not a single portion of the entire social 
fabric existed which it was not in the power of the 
Association legally to discuss. For how was public 
peace and concord to be promoted so long as the 
Orange system lasted ? How was an enlightened 
system of education to be fostered so long as the 
proselytising methods of the Kildare Street schools 
were permitted ? How were improvements to be 
made in agriculture so long as arbitrary ejectments, 
tithe-proctors, church-rates, and grand-jury present- 
ments existed ? How was religious toleration to be 
promoted so long as a Tory press, secretly supported 
by Government, was allowed to malign the Catholics 
and misinterpret their objects unimpeded? Even in 
what appeared its greatest grievance — the removal 
of the management of the Catholic petition out of 
its control — it soon appeared that instead of destroy- 
ing the usefulness of the Association the " Algerine 
Act " had only increased its efficiency. No oaths 
were to be tendered as a condition of membership, 
and no one was to be excluded on the ground of 
religion. Every person who paid £\ before a certain 



1825] Attack on the Catholic Association. 163 

day was ipso facto a member of the Association : 
after that day each person paying £\ and procuring 
one member to propose and another to second him 
was likewise a member. The new Association took 
over the iJ" 14,000 which the old one had in hand when 
it was dissolved. But as it was no longer possible to 
connect the Rent — the mainspring of the agitation — 
with the Association, the management of it was, at 
O'Connell's suggestion, entrusted to Lord Killeen. 




MEDAL STRUCK FOR O'CONNELL BY MONOP. 

FROM THE ORIGINAL IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE AWAKENING OF THE NATION. 
1825-1828. 

O'CONNELL had kept his promise. Phoenix- 
Hke, a new Association had sprung out of the 
ashes of the old one, and within six months 
from the passing of the Insurrection Act the ma- 
chinery of it was in full working order. Govern- 
ment, without a pretext to interfere, looked on the 
while in stupefied impotence. The joy of the 
Catholics was unbounded ; their gratitude to O'Con- 
nell unstinted. A medal was struck to commemorate 
his services, bearing his image with the words " Erin 
ma vourneen," surrounded by a wreath of shamrock 
and oak leaves. That autumn, as he went the 
Munster circuit, demonstration followed demonstra- 
tion. At Cork an eloquent address was presented 
to him, with the view of proving to his detractors 
that " his purity of intention and devotion to Irish 
interests continued unimpeached in the public estim- 
ation." At Mallow he had to plead the indifferent 
state of his wife's health as an excuse for evading an 
ovation. At Galway, where he went on a special 

164 



[1825-1828] Awakening of the Nation. 165 

retainer, the city was decorated in his honour, the 
whole population, men, women and children, turning 
out to welcome him and drag his carriage in triumph 
within the walls. At Wexford his reception was, if 
possible, even more enthusiastic and more pictur- 
esque. From an early hour in the morning, the 
harbour was alive with gaily painted boats, the quay 
and bridge thronged with people in holiday attire, 
waiting to welcome him as he approached the town 
in a triumphal barge, from the stern of which floated 
a large green flag with the harp of Ireland emblaz- 
oned on it, manned with rowers dressed in green 
jackets trimmed with gold. 

It was a magnificent spectacle ; but, flattered 
though he was by it and other signs of his popul- 
arity, O'Connell was glad to escape for a time to 
the peaceful solitudes of his seaside home in Kerry — 
now really his own. For early in the year 1825 his 
uncle '* Hunting Cap " had died at the good old age 
of ninety-six, bequeathing to him Darrynane and 
the bulk of his property, estimated at about ^1000 
a year. For several years before his death he had 
been totally blind ; but age had not dimmed his 
mental vision. He had lived to see the foundation 
of the Catholic Association, and, in transmitting his 
subscription to the "Rent," he had predicted the 
speedy termination of the long struggle for freedom. 
His letter had been entered on the minutes of the 
Association ; but .before the promised day arrived 
he had been gathered to his ancestors. In Septem- 
ber O'Connell took possession of his new home. 
Darrynane, a cluster of buildings of unequal shapes 



1 66 Daniel O' ConnelL [1825- 

and sizes rather than a single house, built at different 
times, and with more regard to comfort and accom- 
modation than to architectural uniformity, is a pic- 
turesque object on the road from Cahirciveen to 
Kenmare. But the road itself belongs to a more 
recent date, and at the time of which we are speak- 
ing Darrynane was almost inaccessible to any but 
foot-passengers. Shut in on all sides save one by 
mountains rising to 1500 and 2000 feet, the house 
commands a full prospect of the Atlantic. To the 
left a rocky promontory, transformed when the tides 
are particularly high into an island, separates it from 
Ballinskelligs harbour. Scattered about on it are 
the ruins of the ancient abbey which gives its name 
to the Httle bay and the house itself, containing the 
graves of many of O'Connell's ancestors. To a 
stranger the scenery on the land side — a jumble of 
rock alternating with bog — devoid of trees, except 
for a small shrubbery planted by O'Connell himself, 
presents a rather dreary prospect ; but to O'Connell 
it was endeared by the tenderest recollections of his 
childhood, and the tourist who will take the trouble 
to ascend Coomakista, when the early rays of the 
sun are flooding the ocean and lighting up the 
distant Skelligs, will admit that the praise he lav- 
ished on it is not wholly undeserved. 

With the enthusiasm of a new proprietor, O'Con- 
nell no sooner found himself installed at Darrynane 
than he began altering, planting, and building in order 
to make the place more commodious and agreeable 
for his wife and family. For he was anxious to re- 
move his establishment from Dublin thither. 



1828] The Awakenmg of the Nation. 167 

" I hope," he wrote to his wife, " I will be able to 
prevail on my daughters to come down very, very early 
next summer. It would be a very great object to me to 
get rid of a ^1000 of my debts during the next two 
terms. If I were able to do that, out of my profession, 
I would soon be altogether free. How I long for that 
day, darling. Nothing, however, but some substantial 
remaining at Darrynane, without anything like an estab- 
lishment in Dublin, will do it," 

But in this he rather reckoned without his host. 
For Mrs. O'Connell, gentle and devoted wife though 
she was, had no idea of econonny, or of burying 
either herself or her daughters in a remote corner of 
Kerry ; and at the very moment O'Connell was 
scheming to retrench his expenses, her thoughts 
were set on viceregal receptions and the pleasures of 
city life. Under the circumstances, therefore, it was 
little wonder that his plans not only came to noth- 
ing, but that on the contrary his expenses, especially 
after his election to Parliament rendered residence 
in London for part of the year necessary, should 
have increased rather than diminished. 

During the summer there had been somewhat of a 
lull in the agitation, due to the anticipation of an 
immediate dissolution of Parliament. But the lull 
did not mean stagnation. On the contrary, there 
had been no end of what Moore sarcastically called 
" oratorical brawling," in which O'Connell had taken 
his fair share. The fact was that, despite his persist- 
ent attempt to ignore it, " the undergrowl of poor 
Jack Lawless and his few and foolish partisans " 
was becoming daily more pronounced, and on nth 



t68 Dajiiel O' Connell. [1825- 

July a meeting was convened in Bridge Street 
chapel, in the parish of St. Audeon's, for the purpose 
of denouncing O'Connell's adoption of the Wings' 
policy. The meeting was to have been what we 
should now call a ticket meeting, confined to the 
inhabitants of the parish. But the attempt to ex- 
clude O'Connell proved futile, and his friends having 
provided him with an opportunity to speak, he 
proceeded, amidst considerable interruption, roundly 
to abuse the managers of the meeting for their 
attempt to sow dissensions among the Catholics and 
afford a triumph to their enemies. Having vented 
his indignation he continued : 

" Mr. Chairman, I have received votes of thanks from 
almost every county of Ireland. They are the greatest 
pride and consolation of my heart ; and I do trust that 
ray conduct has never been such as to annul any claim, 
if not to the gratitude, at least to the approval of my 
country. I saw there was a prospect of achieving the 
liberty of Ireland by means at which and under other 
circumstances I should have shuddered with horror. 
But I did not rest on my own authority. I was in com- 
munication with two prelates who are the ornament of 
Ireland — Dr. Doyle and Dr. Murray. Can I offer a 
better plea than when I say that I did nothing, said 
nothing, that had not their entire concurrence and sanc- 
tion ? . . . With regard to the measure affecting the 
freeholders, I am sensible that that has been injurious, 
and has retarded our progress. I know that it has been 
rather a dead-weight to impede us, than a wing to help 
us on ; and no man is more ready to condemn its effect, 
or deplore its introduction, than I am. I am conscious 
it has done us a dis-service, and therefore I shall be the 



1828] The Awakening of the Nation. 169 

first to oppose its reintroduction, if it should be attempted 
at any future time." 

In conclusion he regretted to have spoken in rather 
a rambling fashion ; but it was new for him, in 
Catholic affairs, to speak on sufferance, and he trusted 
that the example of St. Audeon's parish, however 
respectable otherwise, would not be followed in 
trying to exclude the free expression of opinion at 
Catholic meetings. 

His renunciation of the Wings soothed public 
opinion and, as he expressed it, smashed the Bridge 
Street gang. But it is said that when Dr. Doyle's 
attention was drawn to the paragraph attributing to 
him and Dr. Murray responsibility for the adoption 
of the Wings, he wept like a child, and at his request 
Dr. Kinsella, the president of Carlow College, pub- 
lished a long letter disavowing the charge. The dis- 
avowal surprised and mortified O'Connell. Hitherto, 
he wrote in reply, either the natural elasticity of his 
animal spirits or some other cause had prevented 
him from being affected by any of the attacks, 
whether open or insidious, that had been made upon 
him, until he found himself so unnecessarily assailed 
from a quarter to which he had fondly looked for 
friendship, protection, and patronage. Even with 
Kinsella's letter before him, he failed to grasp Dr. 
Doyle's position, and having at a public dinner re- 
curred to the matter. Dr. Doyle felt it incumbent on 
him to explain himself more precisely in the follow- 
ing words : 

" What my opinion was I declared in London to my 
right reverend brethren ; I repeated it since in Dublin : 



170 Daniel O' Connell. [1825- 

that if the prelates were led to approve of a provision 
emanating from the Treasury — if the ministers of Christ 
were to be paid by the minister of state for dispensing 
the mysteries of God — then, in that case, I would not 
create dissension amongst them ; but sooner than that 
my hand should be soiled by it, I would lay down my 
ofhce at the feet of Him who conferred it, for if my hand 
were to be stained with government money it should 
never grasp a crozier, or a mitre ever afterwards be fitted 
to my brow. This was, and is my fixed determination." 

It is impossible to doubt Doyle's sincerity, though 
his language before the Committee of the House of 
Commons conveyed no such strong determination. 
Feeling, however, that he had been in the wrong, 
though scarcely understanding why, O'Connell made 
overtures for a reconciliation, and the bishop having 
accepted the proffered hand the controversy termin- 
ated in mutual professions of respect. 

But O'Connell, though he had cried peccavi and 
done public penance for his sin, was by no means 
convinced of the error of his ways ; and the fact that 
the Marquis of Waterford had recently, in prospect 
of the general election, added largely to the forty- 
shilling freeholders on his estate, seemed proof posi- 
tive in favour of their disfranchisement. But it was 
no use trying to swim against the stream, and with 
the example of the veto before him, he saw that if 
he was to guide public opinion he must not directly 
oppose it. He was shortly to be convinced of the 
wisdom as well as the expediency of having yielded. 

On 24th October the new system of provincial 
meetings, for the discussion of grievances and the 



1828] The Awakening of the Nation. 1 7 1 

preparation of petitions, was inaugurated at Lim- 
erick. It proved eminently successful, and on i6th 
January, 1826, it was followed up by a fourteen- 
days' meeting in the Association Rooms in Dublin. 
Petitions were prepared and presented to Parlia- 
ment ; but the near approach of the general election 
deprived the session of all interest, and moreover it 
was felt to be undesirable to expose the English 
Liberal members to the temptation, as Sheil ex- 
pressed it, of endeavouring " to save their seats by 
votes given in the spirit of a death-bed repentance." 
On these grounds, therefore, it was thought wiser to 
postpone the discussion of the Catholic claims, and 
to try if possible to increase the strength of the 
party at the hustings. Parliament was dissolved in 
May, and the struggle began at once. Nowhere in 
Ireland was it expected to be fiercer than in county 
Waterford, where a determined effort was to be 
made to wrest the representation out of the hands 
of the Beresford family. 

The way of it was this. Shortly after the " Bottle 
Riot " a number of Catholic gentlemen belonging to 
the county had requisitioned the High Sheriff to sum- 
mon a meeting for the purpose of passing a vote of 
condolence with the Lord-Lieutenant, the Marquis 
of Wellesley. The Sheriff with the counsel, if not 
by the direction, of the Marquis of Waterford, had 
refused to comply with their requisition. But sev- 
eral other magistrates had stepped forward ; the 
meeting had been held, and the vote of condolence 
passed. As usual, the gratitude of the Catholics was 
excessive. A banquet was given to the " twelve 



172 Dafiiel O' Comiell. [I825- 

honest Protestant magistrates," and before the party 
broke up it was resolved to visit tlieir indignation on 
the Marquis of Waterford by running an opposition 
candidate to Lord George Beresford. A neighbour- 
ing proprietor, Mr. VilHers Stuart, afterwards Lord 
Stuart of the Decies, was invited to contest the con- 
stituency in the Liberal interest. The invitation 
reached him while travelling in the Tyrol, but ac- 
cepting it he returned home immediately and threw 
himself heart and soul into the struggle. No one 
dreamed that he would be successful. The majority 
on the books against him was more than six hun- 
dred ; people smiled or sneered at the ridiculousness 
of the attempt ; his own agents gave him little hope ; 
the Association was silent, not wishing to injure it- 
self by embarking in a hopeless adventure ; and even 
O'Connell, whom he had at once retained as his legal 
adviser, with a six-hundred-guinea fee, regarded the 
prospect with despondency, and defeat as a foregone 
conclusion. 

How, indeed, could it prove otherwise ? In wealth 
and political influence the Beresford family was sec- 
ond to none in Ireland. For seventy years and more 
they had ruled the county of Waterford with unques- 
tioned authority, looking upon the representation of 
it as their own peculiar right and privilege. In the 
days preceding the Union the name of Beresford had 
been one to conjure with. One of them, plain John 
Beresford, but better known as the '' King of Ire- 
land," the father of the present Marquis, had defied 
and defeated one of the most popular viceroys that 
Ireland had ever seen — Earl Fitzwilliam. Their 



1828] The Awakening of the Nation. 173 

arrogance had only been equalled by their rapacity, 
and there was hardly an office of any pecuniary ad- 
vantage in the State which they had not monopolised. 
The Union had reduced their influence within straiter 
limits, and they had seen with chagrin one depart- 
ment after another withdrawn from their grasp. But 
even now, with powers curtailed and privileges di- 
minished, their authority within the limits of the 
county w^as only rivalled by the ducal house of Cav- 
endish. The head of the family, the Marquis of 
Waterford, was an amiable, narrow-minded autocrat, 
with few personal animosities and many political 
prejudices. Individually he was not disliked. On the 
contrary, he had certain solid claims on the esteem 
and affection of the Catholics. As Lord Tyrone he 
had in 1793 introduced the Bill for their relief into the 
House of Commons, and his humanity, as commander 
of the Waterford regiment, during the rebellion of 
1798, had gained for him the honourable title of *' the 
Croppy Colonel." His brother, Lord George Beres- 
ford, the actual sitting member, was in many respects 
his exact counterpart, with a touch of aristocratic lan- 
guor added to his composition that would have led 
him, had it been possible, to avoid the dura necessitas 
of the hustings. But, certain as his re-election ap- 
peared, nothing had been left to chance. Long be- 
fore the dissolution of Parliament had occurred, steps 
had been taken to cultivate the good-will of the ten- 
antry. Leases had been granted, arrears of rent for- 
given, and money to the extent of over ^^4000, it is 
said, expended in improvements. Lastly, the neu- 
trality of the Duke of Devonshire had been obtained. 



174 Daniel O' Connell. [1825- 

and when Villiers Stuart entered the field it seemed 
as if he was courting certain defeat. For who could 
have imagined that these despised forty-shilling free- 
holders, with whom the verdict rested, would have 
had the courage to throw off their ancient servility 
and defy their masters ? Who could have believed 
that these miserable peasants, steeped in poverty and 
ignorance, — mere beasts of the field, ^'cattle," as 
they were indeed humorously called, — driven to the 
polling booths with the same passive indifference as 
oxen were driven to the shambles, should ever have 
dared to revolt, and, regardless of the consequences, 
have by one supreme effort shown themselves worthy 
to exercise the privileges they possessed ? Who 
could have foreseen that this election was to mark 
the beginning of a new era in the history of Ireland ; 
that after a century of oppression the nation was at 
last awakening from its long slumber ? 

Certainly not O'Connell, as, the spring assizes 
over, he proceeded somewhat despondently to 
Waterford to fulfil his engagement as counsel to 
Villiers Stuart. Nevertheless, it was not long be- 
fore he became conscious that some more subtle in- 
fluences than were commonly due to the excitement 
of an election contest were at work amongst the 
masses of the people. Not only w^as the enthusiasm 
with which he and Villiers Stuart were greeted, as 
they made the round of the constituency, greater 
than he had ever before witnessed, but there was a 
ring of sincerity about it, and a look of determina- 
tion in the faces of the peasantry that he had never 
heard nor seen before. The following extracts from 



1828] The Awakening of the Nation. 1 75 

letters written on the spot to his wife help to bring 
the scene more vividly before us. 

** Dromana, 19th June, 1826. 
" . . . As to yesterday . . . we heard an early mass at 
Waterford, and then started for Dungarvan. We break- 
fasted at Kilmacthomas, a town belonging to the Beres- 
fords, but the people belong to us. They came out to 
meet us with green boughs, and such shouting as you 
can have no idea of. I harangued them from the win- 
dow of the inn, and we had a good deal of laughing at 
the Beresfords. Judge what the popular feeling must be, 
when in this, a Beresford town, every man their tenant, 
we had such a reception. A few miles further on we 
found a chapel, with the congregation assembled before 
mass. The Priest made me come out, and I addressed 
his flock, being my second speech. The freeholders 
here are the tenants of a Mr. Palliser, who is on the 
adverse interest, but almost all of them will vote for us. 
We then proceeded to Dungarvan on the coast. There 
are here about four hundred voters belonging to the 
Duke of Devonshire. His agents have acted a most 
treacherous part by us, and our committee at Waterford 
were afraid openly to attack these voters lest the Duke 
should complain of our violating what he calls his neu- 
trality. But I deemed that all sheer nonsense, and to 
work we went. We had a most tremendous meeting 
here ; we harangued the people from a platform erected 
by the walls of the new chapel. I never could form a 
notion of the great effect of popular declamation before 
yesterday. The clergy of the town most zealously as- 
sisted. We have, I believe, completely triumphed, and 
I at present am convinced we shall poll to the last man 
of these voters. We then had a public dinner and great 



176 Daniel O' Connell. [1825- 

speeching. We broke up about nine, and Wyse and I 
came here with Mr. Stuart in his carriage. We arrived 
about half after ten, and are going this day to Lismore 
on another mission." 

" Waterford, 2ist June, 1826. 
"... The election of Stuart now appears to me quite 
certain. I took my former opinion from timid persons 
here ; my present is founded on actual experience. The 
Priests have gained over a sufficient number of the ad- 
verse voters to insure us a decided majority. We have 
already in town a sufficient number of the enemy's 
forces to decide the victory. When I wrote last on 
Monday I was at Dromana. We started soon after for 
Cappoquin and Lismore, through the loveliest scenes in 
nature. I was with Stuart in his own chaise, with four 
horses, but we had no great occasion, for they were taken 
off before we got to Cappoquin, and we were drawn by 
freeholders three miles into Lismore. I never had a no- 
tion of popular enthusiasm till I saw that scene. There 
were thousands covering the precipitous banks of the 
Blackwater at Lismore. The chapel is extremely spa- 
cious. It was crowded to suffocation. We made several 
harangues, and your husband was as usual much cheered; 
but, what was better, the freeholders crowded in, and 
put down their names in groups, and they are all now 
arriving in shoals. The Duke of Devonshire was to 
have been neutral^ but I believe I have helped to put an 
end to his absurd notion of neutrality." 

Naturally, this carrying of the war into their own 
country was not relished by the territorial magnates. 
It was an *' encroachment on the rights of private 
property," most " ungentlemanly," and the like. 



1828] The Awakening of the Nation. 177 

But it was the interference of the priests in the elec- 
tion that roused their indignation to boiling-point. 
The agents of Lord George put forth two addresses 
reviling them, and calling on the people to spurn 
their superstitious claims. The addresses were im- 
mediately adopted by the opposite party and left to 
preach their own moral. The attack on the priests 
made their work easier, and decided the contest. 
The Duke of Devonshire sent a steamer up the 
Blackwater to bring his tenants in a body to Wa- 
terford, hoping thereby to prevent their becoming 
infected with the popular mania. O'Connell ha- 
rangued their wives and sweethearts on the danger 
of embarking in a '' tea-kettle," and the steamer re- 
turned to Waterford without a single tenant on 
board. Next day the polling began at Waterford. 
After the two candidates had been proposed in due 
form, a grey-haired old man, of the name of Casey, 
rose and proposed Daniel O'Connell as a fit and 
proper person to represent the county in Parliament. 
It was a preconcerted arrangement, in order to give 
him the opportunity of speaking from the hustings. 
But the effect was electrical. A roar of indignation 
burst from the supporters of Lord George, but it 
was drowned by the triumphant cheers of their 
opponents, and there were those who, in the light 
of subsequent events, thought that had O'Connell 
persisted he might then and there have anticipated 
the victory reserved for Clare two years later. As it 
was, after speaking for two hours, he concluded, to 
the evident relief of Stuart himself, with an assur- 
ance that he did not wish to disturb the unanimity 



1/8 Daniel O' Connell. [1825- 

of the county, and should accordingly withdraw his 
pretensions. 

The result of the first day's polling practically set- 
tled the fate of the Beresfords. Each day only 
added to their discomfiture ; their defeat became a 
rout, and the battle, which they had so confidently 
expected to win, was lost simply through the deser- 
tion of their own forces. The freeholders of Kilmac- 
thomas and Portlaw, the very pick of their tenantry, 
claimed the privilege of being the first to head the 
revolt, and their claim was allowed. Their example 
was infectious, and far from needing to stimulate the 
enthusiasm of the voters, the only difficulty was to 
keep it within legal bounds. But though Waterford 
was crowded with strangers, better order had never 
been seen in the town. The butchers, the most tur- 
bulent portion, it might be conceived, of the com- 
munity, formed themselves into a society for the 
preservation of the peace, and dividing the town 
into walks patrolled it each night in parties of six 
with white wands so long as the election lasted, 
sending home to their respective abodes every 
freeholder whom they met rambling about after 
eleven o'clock. After resorting to every artifice to 
lengthen out the time, Lord George withdrew on 
the fifth day from the contest, which had cost his 
family at least ;^ 100,000. As for the Marquis of 
Waterford, who had long been in a declining state of 
health, he never recovered from his defeat, and, un- 
able to bear his disgrace, shortly afterwards quitted 
Curraghmore for ever. The defection of his own 
household had wounded him most of all, and a pa- 



1828] The Awakening of the Nation. 179 

thetic story was told by Sheil how, on being informed 
that his favourite huntsman, Manton, had voted for 
the opposition candidate, he caused him to be sum- 
moned to his bedside. '' Manton," said he, '* have 
you, too, abandoned me? " " God bless your lord- 
ship, and long life to you," sobbed the old retainer. 
*' I would go to the world's end to serve you ; but I 
cannot vote against my country and my religion." 

The revolt of the forty-shilling freeholders was not 
confined to Waterford. In Louth, Monaghan, Ar- 
magh, and Westmeath similar scenes occurred and 
similar victories were recorded. Astonishment seized 
the nation. The joy of the Catholics was only 
equalled by the rage of the Orangemen. Both alike 
saw that the goal was in sight. But if Emancipation 
was certain, it was also certain that the means by 
which it had been achieved would be destroyed. 
The policy of 1793 — of giving with the one hand and 
taking away with the other — would be repeated. 
The forty-shilling freeholders were doomed. 

The unsatisfactory state of his wife's health, and 
the necessity of clearing off arrears of professional 
business, obliged O'Connell the moment the election 
was over to return to Dublin. No one had been 
more surprised than he at the independence displayed 
by the forty-shilling freeholders, and he was anxious, 
as he expressed it, " to read his recantation " on that 
subject before the contest for the county of Dublin 
was decided. It was true he had consented before 
the election to waive his opinion from a desire not 
to oppose the wish of the nation, but he was now, he 
declared, convinced that the nation had been right 



i8o Daniel O' ConnelL [1825- 

and himself wrong. His judgment was no longer on 
that subject what it had been. The delusion under 
which he had laboured was gone for ever. The forty- 
shilling freeholders had emancipated themselves 
from their political thraldom, and burst the bonds 
and fetters which had previously held them in slav- 
ery. Not to return them thanks for the boundless 
patriotism which they had everywhere exhibited 
would be doing them a great wrong and insulting his 
own judgment. He should therefore move " that we 
deem it our duty, publicly and solemnly to declare 
that we will not accept of emancipation accompanied 
by any infringement of the forty-shilling franchise." 
A week or two later he went with his wife to Darr)/- 
nane. At Cahirciveen his tenants had assembled 
in a body to welcome him home, and taking the 
horses from his carriage insisted on dragging it, prob- 
ably more to their own gratification than to the com- 
fort of its occupants, over bog and boulder all the 
way to Darrynane. 

But the pleasures of rural life and the joys of hare- 
hunting were shortly interrupted by more serious 
matters. The victory of the forty-shilling freehold- 
ers had been dearly purchased. Vengeance terrible 
and swift had fallen on them. Advantage was 
taken of unpaid arrears of rent : tenants were ejected 
at a minute's notice without mercy ; whole families 
turned out to starve on the highways — in short, every 
engine that wounded pride and disappointed ambi- 
tion could suggest was put in action against these 
unfortunate and too independent forty-shilling free- 
holders. So acute was the distress occasioned in 



1828] The Awakening of the Nation. i8i 

many parts by these ruthless proceedings that seri- 
ous apprehensions were entertained of a recurrence 
of those acts of personal retaliation and agrarian 
crime which had at all times been so anxiously iden- 
tified by their enemies with the Catholic cause. 
Towards the latter end of August a provincial meet- 
ing was held at Waterford to celebrate the recent 
victory. The proceedings included a public dinner, 
which Earl Fitzwilliam, "the great and good," hon- 
oured with his presence. The main topic of conversa- 
tion was naturally the forty-shilling freeholders. Much 
sympathy was expressed for their fate ; but it was 
reserved for O'Connell to make the only practical 
suggestion for their relief. What was wanted was of 
course money — money to enable distressed tenants 
to pay up their outstanding " gales," or arrears of 
rent, and avoid ejectment. Had the '* Algerine Act " 
not scotched the Catholic Rent there would, said 
O'Connell, have been no difficulty about the matter. 
He therefore suggested the formation of a new or- 
ganisation or voluntary association of Irishmen ** for 
purposes legal and useful to Ireland." An *' Order 
of Liberators " should be established, having the fol- 
lowing for its objects: — to prevent the formation or 
continuance of secret societies ; to conciliate all 
classes of Irishmen in one bond of brotherhood and 
affection ; to bury in total and eternal oblivion all 
ancient animosities and reproaches; to prevent the 
future occurrence of feuds and riots at markets, fairs, 
and patrons ; to promote the collection of a national 
fund for national purposes, as far as that can be done 
consistently with law ; to protect all persons possessed 



1 82 Daniel 0' Conjtell. [182 6- 

of the elective franchise, and especially the forty- 
shilling freeholders, from all vindictive proceedings 
on account of the free exercise of such franchise ; to 
promote the acquisition of such franchise and its due 
registry ; to ascertain the number of votes in each 
county and city of Ireland, and the political bias of 
the voters generally ; to promote a system of dealing 
exclusively with the friends of civil and religious 
liberty, to promote the exclusive use of articles the 
growth and manufacture of Ireland ; to form two 
distinct tribunals in every county, with branches in 
every town and village therein — the one for the pur- 
pose of reconciling differences and procuring parties 
to adjust their litigations and disputes, the other for 
the purpose of deciding, by arbitration, litigations 
and disputes between parties who may resist a set- 
tlement without arbitration. 

The association, which was to be open to anyone 
not belonging to a secret society, was to consist of 
three grades, viz. — Liberators par excellence, to which 
rank everyone who had performed one act of real ser- 
vice to his country was entitled ; knights companions, 
who had performed two acts of service ; knights 
grand-cross who had performed three acts of service. 
There was to be a chancellor and a bishop attached 
to the order, and the grand master was to be the 
Earl of Cloncurry. O'Connell's own claims for ad- 
mission were: first, having served Ireland for twenty- 
seven years ; second, having formed the Association 
of 1823; and, third, having organised the Catholic 
Rent. One is tempted to smile at the formal pre- 
cision with which he elaborated his plan ; but in this 



1828] The Awakening of the Nation. 183 

he knew quite well what he was about, and did not 
miscalculate the practical value of an appeal to his 
countrymen's imagination and love of theatrical 
display. 

" On Wednesday," he wrote the following Saturday, 
2nd September, to his wife, " I quietly installed my Lib- 
erators. They will make a noise yet. You would laugh 
to hear the multitude of wiseacres I had advising me on 
that subject. My brother John was one of those who 
think I do not know what I am about in politics. How 
much I mind their sapient advice ! The Liberators will 
do yet." 

He was not mistaken in his forecast, and, for him- 
self, the title of " Liberator," to which subsequent 
events imparted a more intensive meaning, is still 
the one by which he is best known. 

But all this elaborate scheme was merely pre- 
paratory to his main object — the establishment of 
a new Rent for the protection of the forty-shilling 
freeholders. It was a favourite remark of his that 
he had taught Irishmen to consult the state of the 
money market in the newspaper before turning to 
the political news. In fact, no one ever estimated 
money as a factor in politics more highly than did 
he. It was the mainspring of his whole agitation. 
Accordingly, he had no sooner established his 
"• Order of Liberators " than he issued a stirring 
appeal " to the people of Ireland " to assist him in 
forming a new Rent. The question he had to put 
to every reflecting Catholic was — Are the forty- 
shilling freeholders, after having displayed a devot- 
edness of resolution, and a single-heartedness of 



184 Daniel O' Comiell, [1825- 

purpose, of which they could have seen few examples 
in the wealthier classes, to be abandoned to the 
vengeance of their exasperated landlords? The 
persecution, he reminded his readers, was already 
raging in many quarters. 

" In Westmeath, the tenants on the estate of that un- 
relenting enemy of ours, Lord Castlemaine, are distrained 
for the May rent. Men, who owe no part of the last 
November gale, require nothing but a temporary advance 
in order to enable them to bear up against legal persecu- 
tion. Catholics of Ireland, can any proposition be more 
clear than this — we are bound by every tie of interest, 
honour, good-feeling, and conscience, to afford all 
practical protection to the freeholders who have achieved 
our recent victories ? If that protection be not extended 
to them, it shall not be my fault. It can easily be 
afforded them. Let no man be deterred by the mean 
and pusillanimous assertion that it is impossible to 
protect so many. They can all be easily protected. 
But even if we were not able to protect more than some, 
yet it would be our sacred duty to protect that some. 
But I rejoice to say we can protect all. The mode of 
protecting them is by forming a fund to advance loans 
to all those against whom the vengeance of the land- 
lords shall be directed. . . . But resources are 
wanting. Money, the life-spring of all public exertions, 
is wanting. Individual subscriptions can never be suf- 
ficient. It requires a national effort : it requires the 
revival of the Catholic Rent. Once before at my 
voice that fund was created. Once before all Ireland 
became responsive to the call of patriotism. . . . 
The Catholic people of Ireland are a nation. They 
should have something in the nature of a national 



1828] The Awakeiiing of the Nation. 185 

treasury. As long as the law separates us from our 
Protestant fellow-countrymen, so long we must have a 
fund to meet the necessary expenditures which grow 
out of our separate and most anomalous state in society. 
For these purposes, I call upon the Catholics and the 
Liberal Protestants in Ireland to form a national fund, to 
be called " the new Catholic Rent," for all purposes 
not prohibited by law, and especially for the purpose of 
national education. Let that be the title of the new 
Rent. Who will begin to collect it ? . . . . Who 
will begin in his parish ? Clergyman or layman, who- 
ever he be, glory to him ! If only one begins, the 
example, as before, will spread far and wide, and we 
shall exhibit the noble example of a national tax, vol- 
untarily assessed and cheerfully paid. The Catholic 
clergy in Armagh, Monaghan, Louth, Westmeath, and 
Waterford have set a heroic example. How many a 
generous heart in other counties has felt a patriotic envy 
at the better fate of those who could take a share in the 
actual contest ? It was and is, a noble emulation. Well, 
then, here is an opportunity which comes home to the 
door of every Catholic clergyman in every county in 
Ireland. He may, by his exertions for this Rent, be- 
come a Liberator like his fellow-countryman in Water- 
ford or Westmeath, Louth or Cavan, Monaghan or 
Armagh." 

The nation responded to his call. Within a week 
or two after the publication of the letter the *' New 
Rent " had risen to i^200. Nor was O'Connell disap- 
pointed in its effects. The ''Order of Liberators" 
welded itself immediately and imperceptibly on to the 
machinery of the Association. Ejectments became 
rarer as the landlords found their conduct exposed 



t86 Daniel 0' Connell. [1825- 

to hostile criticism and their attacks on their ten- 
ants met by retahatory measures for the purchas- 
ing up of outstanding judgments against themselves. 
The principle of arbitration slowly but surely gained 
ground, greatly to the benefit of the tenant. Find- 
ing themselves supported by the whole forces of the 
Association, the forty-shilling freeholders plucked up 
courage to assert their privileges, and there was little 
doubt that, with ordinary exertions, the Catholics 
would return three-fourths of the representation of 
Ireland at the next ensuing election. 

Parliament met in November. The King's Speech 
contained no reference to Ireland. So it was, re- 
marked Brougham, on the eve of the war with Amer- 
ica ; when America was the word which hung upon 
the quivering lip of every man, no allusion was made 
to it in the Speech from the Throne. A fourteen- 
days' meeting held in Dublin in January, 1827, re- 
solved to petition Parliament, and on 5th March Sir 
Francis Burdett moved '' that this House is deeply 
impressed with the necessity of taking into immedi- 
ate consideration the laws inflicting penalties on his 
Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects, with the view of 
removing them." The motion was opposed by Peel, 
and lost by 276 to 272. O'Connell, who was at Fu- 
nis when the news reached him, considered it the 
most signal defeat which had befallen Ireland since 
the Union. 

" Another crime," he wrote to the Secretary of the As- 
sociation, " has been added to those which England has 
inflicted on this wretched land ; another instance of 
genuine Reformation bigotry has disgraced the British 



1828] l^Jie Awakening of tJie Nation. 187 

nation. But a just and good God is looking on, and in 
His own good time will be His own avenger. I agree 
with those who totally refuse to despair. We must rally 
for a new exertion. . . . We must renew our peti- 
tions to the Houses of Parliament. We must have an- 
other debate immediately after Easter : we must never 
let the question rest. . . . Strong measures should 
now be resorted to — as strong as are consistent with 
legal and constitutional limits. A Petition for the Re- 
peal of the Union should be immediately prepared. 
There are but few patriots among the Irish Protestants, 
but the few there are would join us in that ; or if not, 
let us petition alone for the repeal of a measure which 
has increased every evil Ireland has endured, and taken 
away every prospect of a mitigation of the causes of the 
poverty and wretchedness of the country." 

His letter broaching the repeal of the Union 
caused something approaching to consternation 
among the more moderate members of the Asso- 
ciation, and O'Connell had to thank the pertinacity 
of his quondam adversary. Lawless, that the chair- 
man, Sir Thomas Esmonde, did not succeed in sup- 
pressing it. 

But just as the hopes of the Catholics had touched 
their nadir the whirligig of events sent them up 
again into the seventh heaven. In March an apoplec- 
tic stroke, depriving him of the power of speech, 
compelled the Prime Minister, Lord Liverpool, after 
having held the reins of government for fifteen 
years, to resign office. His successor, Canning, 
**the minister of representative Europe," as he was 
styled, had long shown himself a friend to the 



1 88 Daniel O'Connell. [1825- 

Catholics. He could not, as he said, after all, forget 
that he was an Irishman. And though emancipa- 
tion was still understood to be an open question, 
the withdrawal of the Duke of Wellington, Lord 
Eldon, Peel, and Lord Bathurst, and the substitution 
of Lamb for Goulburn as Secretary for Ireland, 
were signs which no one under the circumstances 
was likely to misinterpret. But Canning, while he 
regarded emancipation as a just demand, the con- 
cession of which was likely to be fraught with essen- 
tial benefit to the empire, had no desire, as he 
expressed it, '' to provoke even for that purpose the 
sort of passive resistance which might, he feared, be 
aroused in Great Britain." On the contrary, he was 
anxious to postpone the entire discussion of it till 
both sides were prepared *' to take a more rational 
view of the subject." Party passion must be allayed 
in England ; the agitation in Ireland must cease, 
and time be afforded to consider the question ration- 
ally and philosophically. The idea bewrayed the 
man. 

O'Connell, to whom Canning's views had been 
communicated by the Knight of Kerry, replied to 
the latter, — 

" I received your quieting letter, and, of course, gave 
it the most unaffected consideration. But you will re- 
collect that the question does not rest with me. / can 
easily be quieted, but there are the people at large ; there 
is the Irish nation kept in the miserable state of hope 
deferred. . . . You know perfectly well that this 
country has been governed for the last twenty years by 
the triumvirate of Lord Manners, Saurin, and Gregory, 



1828] The Awakening of the Nation. 189 

and they still continue to govern. They brought Ireland 
to the very verge of a sanguinary struggle. If the 
system were pursued without hope of alteration for one 
year more, there never yet was so bitter or so bloody a 
contest in this country, often as it has been stained with 
blood. And the first step to bring us back to peaceable 
courses would be to deprive those of power who were 
the prime movers of discontent and the most prominent 
causes of irritation. . . . The country remains in a 
feverish state, and it requires to be soothed by a change 
of system, which cannot possibly take place without 
a change of men." 

In a word, good government was what O'Connell 
wanted, — just and impartial administration of exist- 
ing laws, — a guarantee that they would not be 
twisted according to the prejudices of those who 
had the execution of them. That granted, emanci- 
pation could wait, the repeal of the Union could 
wait, until time had demonstrated the utility or 
necessity of either or both. Not separation, not 
exclusion, was what he desired, but a real union with 
admission into the privileges of the constitution. 
A reasonable demand it might be called. The pity 
of it was that under the circumstances this equality 
before the law for which he asked was even more 
difficult to attain than either emancipation or the 
repeal of the Union. For it meant more than either. 
It meant the turning back the hands of the clock of 
history for at least two centuries ; it meant the 
obliteration of every cause that divided Ireland into 
two hostile camps ; it meant the practically impos- 
sible. Sooner would the lion lie down in peace with 



190 Daniel O' Coniiell. ii825- 

the lamb, than the Orangeman admit the equality 
of the Catholic. The penal laws and the Union 
were merely the sign and symbol of an anomalous 
state of affairs, having its roots in religious discord 
and conquest by confiscation. 

An oligarchical government must rest on force for 
its ultimate sanction. To the oligarchy in Ireland 
the Union implied the might of England. This was 
their sanction. And the thing to be remarked is 
that de facto ever since the day when Henry VIII. 
planned the conquest of Ireland by '' politic shifts 
and amiable persuasions " this sanction has never 
been wanting. The Act of Union in itself was no 
new thing. In one shape or other it had always ex- 
isted. Ireland for the last three and a half centuries 
has never been independent. Not even the nominal 
independence of the Irish Parliament between 1782 
and 1800 can conceal the fact; for during these 
eighteen years England, through her Home Secre- 
tary and her English executive in Dublin Castle, had 
never for one moment relaxed her hold on the island. 
The rescinding of the Act of Union means nothing 
if it means only the restoration of pre-existing condi- 
tions: it means revolution and perhaps bloodshed, 
if it means the withdrawal of England from the con- 
nection. Out of revolution will issue a normal state 
of affairs ; but if statesmanship counts for anything, 
its highest office is to achieve this normal state of 
affairs without a bloody revolution. So long, how- 
ever, as an oligarchy continued to govern Ireland the 
impartial administration of the laws was simply im- 
possible. For it was through the maladministration 



1828] The Awakening of the Nation. 191 

of them — through jury-packing, political judges, 
one-sided proclamations, and the like — that it man- 
aged to maintain its authority. It kept the letter 
but broke the spirit, and England was there to see 
that the letter of the law was obeyed. O'Connell, 
as we shall see, was condemned in Ireland and ac- 
quitted by the House of Lords. Still, it must be 
admitted that a change of men offered some chance 
of alleviation. It was some relief that men grown 
hoary in twisting the laws to political ends, like 
Saurin and Norbury, should be superseded by less 
bigoted men. The only question for a responsible 
statesman bound to maintain the Union was, how 
far such a change of men might go without endan- 
gering the whole fabric. It was the thin end of the 
wedge, and O'Connell knew it. Hence his persist- 
ent demand for a change of system ; hence his offer 
to drop his agitation for Emancipation at one time, 
and for Repeal at another. 

Unfortunately, before it was possible to test the 
scope and intention of Canning's policy, his death 
early in August put an end to his administration. 
His death was a grievous blow to the Catholics. 
'' We have," said O'Connell, *' lost a powerful 
friend : the mothers of Irish children have lost a pro- 
tector ; and the blessings which under his adminis- 
tration we hoped soon to enjoy are now suddenly 
hurried from us and shew but like a dim and distant 
vision." After a brief interregnum, during which 
the reins that had fallen from Canning's hand were 
held by Lord Goderich, Wellington formed his 
famous administration. Of necessity the Catholic 



192 Daniel O' Co7inell. [1825- 

agitation immediately recommenced. In January, 
1828, there was a fourteen-days' meeting in Dublin 
for the purpose of petitioning Parliament. Nor was 
this all. A suggestion of Sheil's that simultaneous 
meetings should be held on one particular day in 
every parish in Ireland for the purpose of supporting 
the petition was put into execution. Accordingly, 
on the same day, and at the same hour, Sunday, 
2 1st January, meetings were held in upwards of fifteen 
hundred Catholic churches, and the Dublin Eveniftg 
Post calculated, " on the presumption of one thou- 
sand persons having attended each meeting (cer- 
tainly a moderate average), that not less than one 
million five hundred thousand persons were simul- 
taneously assembled for the same object on this im- 
pressive occasion." " Impressive," it might well be 
called, when it was recollected that each of these 
1,500,000 men had obeyed the simple fiat of the As- 
sociation. What, it was asked by attentive observ- 
ers, would happen if the Association ordered them 
to meet with arms in their hands ? So long as O'Con- 
nell maintained his authority such a command would 
never issue. But it was a threat in terrorein which 
the Duke of Wellington was not likely to under- 
value. The Association had shown its strength : it 
was for ministers to estimate the probability and 
consequences of a collision. 

For the Association itself this extraordinary ex- 
hibition of its own power had the effect of still 
further stimulating its exertions. In one respect 
its operation had disappointed O'Connell's expecta- 
tions. The ;^$o,ooo annual Rent upon which he had, 



18281 The Awakening of the Nation. 193 

at its first institution, so confidently counted had 
never once been realised. At most it had amounted 
to barely the half, and then only in consequence of 
special exertions. The reason of it was plain. The 
collection had been left too much to individual ex- 
ertion. In order to systematise it O'Connell now 
suggested the appointment of two Catholic church- 
wardens in each parish. A set of rules was drawn 
up for their guidance, in furnishing short monthly 
reports of the progress of the Rent and the Census ; 
the attitude of the landlords toward their tenantry, 
in regard to ejectments for non-payment of rent or 
the exercise of the franchise ; the amount paid for 
tithes, church cess, etc. ; the establishment of Kildare 
Place schools, and the progress of proselytism in 
their respective neighbourhoods. Further, in order 
lo stimulate an interest in the general progress of 
the movement, a Weekly Register was sent down to 
each of the churchwardens every Saturday, contain- 
ing the amplest report of the speeches and resolu- 
tions of the Tuesday and Thursday meetings of the 
Association. These it was the duty of the church- 
wardens to read aloud each Sunday at the chapel 
door and then to file. The institution of the church- 
wardens gave an immense impetus to the political 
education of the nation. Shortly before the dissolu- 
tion of the Association it was calculated that six 
thousand copies of the Register wqxq sent every week 
into the country. The nation had become a nation 
of politicians : not a single chapel which had not its 
lecturer, not a single lecturer who had not thousands 

for his audience. 
13 



194 Daniel O' Connell. [1825- 

Yet a further development remains to be recorded 
in the establishment of Liberal clubs in every county 
and parish. The idea originated with Thomas Wyse, 
the historian of the Catholic Association, by which 
it was immediately adopted. The elements of the 
system already existed in the parochial committees 
for arbitration. The object was to bring them into 
closer touch with the central organisation in Dublin. 
To effect this it was proposed : first, that the As- 
sociation should continue the head club, committee, 
or association ; second, that in each county there 
should be established a similar association or club 
under the immediate control of the Association ; 
third, that in each parish there should be formed a 
similar club under the immediate control of the 
county club — thus rising by just gradations, chain 
linked within chain, from a group of peasants in the 
lowest hamlet in the land, until at last it terminated 
in the full assembly of the Catholic Association. 
Before long Liberal clubs sprang into existence in 
every county in Munster, and in most counties in 
Leinster and Connaught. The parishes followed 
the example of their respective counties, and in an 
incredibly short time the Catholics of Ireland were 
provided with a system of representation more com- 
plete and infinitely more useful than was furnished 
by Parliament itself. The extension of constitutional 
knowledge, the propagation of liberal feeling amongst 
all classes of the community, the suppression of re- 
ligious feuds and private quarrels, and above all 
the most exact obedience to the very letter of the 
law — these were the objects of the institution. What 



1828] The Aivakening of the Nation. 195 

inestimable benefits to the country at large it might 
have been productive of, had it been allowed to 
perfect itself, one can only imagine. Before that day 
arrived, Catholic emancipation had been conceded 
and the Association had been dissolved. As it was, 
the parish clubs were of infinite service in promoting 
the political education of the nation, in stimulating 
inquiry on all subjects touching the welfare of the 
country, in promoting a better feeling between ten- 
ant and landlord, and in smoothing away causes of 
irritation amongst the peasantry themselves. What 
causes of dispute the parish was unable to redress 
were referred to the county, and by the county to 
the Association. 

Naturally the anti-Catholics were not slow to take 
a leaf out of the Association's book. They already 
possessed in the Orange Society an engine of for- 
midable strength ; but there were many Protestants 
to whom the constitution of that society was ob- 
jectionable. The foundation of a Brunswick Club 
was accordingly started in Dublin, with afifiliated 
branches throughout the country. The name was 
somewhat infelicitous : its principles somewhat un- 
certain. But it signified opposition to the Catholic 
claims, and the maintenance of the Protestant ascend- 
ancy. It prided itself on the fact that it was com- 
posed of '' gentlemen," and that its operations were 
purely defensive. In both respects it laboured under 
a disadvantage well known to those who have had 
anything to do with practical politics. For your 
'' gentleman," however resolute and independent he 
may be in his individual capacity, soon grows tired 



196 Daniel O' Connell. [1825-1828] 

of wasting his time attending meetings and commit- 
tees. It is your shoemaker, your baker, your grocer, 
to whom such meetings come as a form of amuse- 
ment that keep the machine going. Then again, to 
be always acting on the defensive is in itself ineffably 
wearisome, and unless the stakes are very high de- 
feat is a foregone conclusion. So it was with the 
Brunswick clubs. After a brief period of activity 
the attendance at them dwindled to nothing, and 
finally the whole thing expired of inanition. 

Meanwhile the Catholic Association, in the exu- 
berance of its newly discovered strength, announced 
its determination to consider any member of Parlia- 
ment an enemy to Ireland who should support any 
administration not making emancipation a Cabinet 
question. It was to be called upon to make good 
its determination at an earlier period than it had 
anticipated on passing the resolution. 




CHAPTER X. 

EMANCIPATION. 



1828-1829. 

LIKE Canning's administration, that of the Duke 
of Wellington was composed of heterogeneous 
elements, including both emancipationists and 
anti-emancipationists. The only difference was that 
whereas in Canning's the former had been the 
stronger, in Wellington's the balance of power lay 
with the latter. Emancipation itself was nominally 
left an open question. In Ireland, the Lord Lieu- 
tenant, the Marquis of Anglesey, and the Chief 
Secretary, William Lamb, afterwards Viscount Mel- 
bourne, were appointments of Canning, continuing 
to retain office in the new administration. The 
former was regarded as neutral ; the latter as in- 
chned to the side of the Catholics. In the Cabinet 
itself the Canningites were represented by Huskis- 
son. Secretary for the Colonies, *' a pale copy of his 
illustrious chief," together with Palmerston, Grant, 
and Dudley. They were opposed by Wellington, 
Peel, Aberdeen, Lyndhurst, Bathurst, Goulburn, and 
Herries. It was hardly to be expected that a 

197 



igS Daniel O' Connell. [1828- 

Cabinet so composed would work together harmoni- 
ously ; but curiously enough, it was not over the 
CathoHc question that the rupture occurred. In 
fact, on 8th May, after a three-days' debate, the 
House of Commons agreed by 272 to 260 to a reso- 
lution brought forward by Sir Francis Burdett to 
take the Catholic claims into consideration, and 
eleven days later the House of Lords, on the motion 
of the Duke of WeUington, consented to appoint a 
committee to confer with the Commons on the sub- 
ject. While the matter was still under considera- 
tion — in fact, on the very day that the Lords had 
agreed to Wellington's motion — the question of 
transferring the East Retford franchise to Birming- 
ham came up for consideration before the House of 
Commons. Huskisson, who had pledged himself in 
favour of the proposal, but had been unable to carry 
the Cabinet with him, found himself placed in the 
disagreeable position either of having to break his 
public pledge or of voting against his colleagues. 
Unable to decide, he saw Peel and the rest vote 
against the motion without being able to leave his 
seat. The same evening he placed his resignation 
in the Prime Minister's hand, and was not a little 
surprised and mortified to find it accepted. His 
resignation was followed a few days later by that of 
Dudley, Grant, Palmerston, and Lamb. 

In the reconstruction of the administration that 
thereupon took place. Lord Francis Leveson Gower 
was appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland, and Vesey 
Fitzgerald President of the Board of Trade, with a 
seat in the Cabinet. Vesey Fitzgerald was M.P. for 



1829] Emancipation. 199 

county Clare : his acceptance of office entailed an 
appeal to his constituents. The Association, as we 
have just seen, had entered a resolution on their min- 
utes to oppose the election of anyone who should 
support an administration not making emancipation 
a Cabinet question. The case was clear. But would 
the Association have the courage to put their resolu- 
tion in execution ? Fitzgerald — there was no blink- 
ing the fact — was a formidable opponent. The 
scion of an ancient and honourable family, the son 
of a man who, rather than vote for the Union, had 
resigned his office of Prime Sergeant, a gentleman 
of engaging manners, an orator of no common elo- 
quence, a friend personally to the Catholics, it seemed 
little short of madness to think of opposing him. 
On the other hand, the Association had often been 
taunted with their paper resolutions ; to decline the 
contest at this juncture was to incur disaster more 
irremediable than defeat. Before, however, coming 
to any decision, it was determined to send down 
two members of the Association, Messrs. Steele and 
O'Gorman Mahon, the former a Protestant, to sound 
the constituency. To their astonishment they found 
the electors not only willing but anxious to fight. 
The difficulty was to find a suitable candidate. The 
only possible one, Major Macnamara, a personal 
friend of Fitzgerald's, refused to allow himself to be 
put in nomination. In this dilemma, Steele sug- 
gested setting up some parish clerk or grave-digger, 
providing him with a qualification out of the Catho- 
lic Rent, and returning him in derision of the 
Wellington administration. Fortunately, no such 



200 Danzei O' ConnelL 



[1828- 



unheroic expedient was necessary. Why, it was 
suggested, should not O'Connell himself be per- 
suaded to contest the constituency ? 

The suggestion was made one day by Sir David 
Roose, sometime High Sheriff of Dublin, to a very 
intimate friend of O'Connell's, P. V. Fitzpatrick, and 
the latter, recalling to mind how Keogh had once 
expressed an opinion that emancipation would never 
be conceded until a Catholic was returned to Parlia- 
ment, at once hurried off to submit the proposal to 
O'Connell. Naturally O'Connell, who had never 
dreamed of entering Parliament, pooh-poohed the 
idea. He had no wish to sacrifice his profession — 
no funds for the occasion, etc. ; but Fitzpatrick would 
take no refusal, and, giving currency to the report 
that O'Connell was going to stand, immediately set 
about raising the sinews of war. In ten days he had 
collected i^28,000. His enthusiasm and energy forced 
a reluctant assent from O'Connell, and two days 
after, on 24th June, 1828, the latter issued his address 
to the electors of county Clare. The address, a some- 
what rambling document, written currente calamo in 
the office of the Evening Post, to the proprietorship 
of which Frederick Conway had now succeeded John 
Magee, called on the electors of county Clare to 
choose between him and Vesey Fitzgerald — 

" Choose between him who has so long cultivated his 
own interests and one who seeks only to advance yours ; 
choose between the sworn libeller of the Catholic faith 
and one who has devoted his early life to your cause, 
who has consumed his manhood in a struggle for your 
liberties, and who has ever lived and is ready to die for 




o'connell, fitzpatrick, and conway in the office of the 
"evening post." 

FROM THE PAINTING BY HAVERTY IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY, DUBLIN. 



1829] Emancipation. 201 

the integrity, the honour, the purity of the Catholic 
faith, and the promotion of Irish freedom and happiness." 

They were not to be misled by the statement that 
he was not qualified to be elected. He was qualified 
to be elected and to represent them. It was true 
that, as a Catholic, he could not, and of course never 
would, take the oath prescribed to members of Par- 
liament ; but the authority which had created those 
oaths — the Parliament — could abrogate them, and he 
was confident that, if elected, the most bigoted of 
their enemies would see the necessity of removing 
from the chosen representative of the people an ob- 
stacle which would prevent him from doing his duty 
to his king and to his country. Should he be re- 
turned he pledged himself to vote for every measure 
favourable to radical reform *' so that the House of 
Commons may truly, as our Catholic ancestors in- 
tended it should do, represent the people" ; for the 
repeal of the Vestry Bill, the Subletting Act and the 
grand jury laws; for the diminution and more equal 
distribution of the overgrown wealth of the Estab- 
lished Church in Ireland, so that the surplus may be 
restored to the sustentation of the poor, the aged, 
and the infirm ; for every measure of retrenchment 
and reduction of the national expenditure ; and 
finally he pledged himself to bring the question of 
the repeal of the Union, at the earliest possible 
period, before the consideration of the Legislature. 

The announcement of his determination to con- 
test county Clare caused a tremendous sensation, 
not unmixed with a feeling of dread lest he was 



202 Daniel O' Coniiell. [1828- 

imperilling the whole situation. '' O'Connell," wrote 
the Lord Lieutenant, '' finds himself so much opposed 
by some of the most respectable of the bishops, and 
by many of the lower clergy also, that he is quite 
wild." But the benediction of the Bishop of Kildare 
and Leighlin rested on him, and having that he was 
satisfied. 

" It is," wrote Bishop Doyle, " when difficulties press 
on us that we should increase our exertions, and exhibit 
in our conduct that decision which is the harbinger of 
success. I am unable and unwilling to calculate the 
consequences which must result from your contest with 
Mr. Vesey Fitzgerald, but I am satisfied these conse- 
quences will be as useful as they must be important if 
the lovers of civil and religious liberty in Clare do their 
duty to the sacred cause to which you have devoted 
anew your time, your talents, your fortune, and your life. 
Farewell, my dear friend, may the God of truth and 
justice protect and prosper you." 

A day or two afterwards he set out for Ennis. A 
considerable crowd collected at the Four Courts to 
see him off, and all along the way he was greeted 
with signs of popular enthusiasm which could hardly 
have been more pronounced had he been returning 
victorious instead of going to fight what to many 
seemed a desperate battle. As he approached his 
destination, the obstruction grew so great, the stop- 
pages so frequent, that it was not till two o'clock in 
the morning of the nomination day that he reached 
Ennis. The nominations over, the day at last dawned 
which was to witness the beginning of the contest 



1829] Ema7icipation. 



on which so many hopes depended. It was Monday, 
the 30th of June, when the election began. From an 
early hour in the morning the little town was alive 
with county voters, many of them accompanied by 
their wives and children, to the number, it was calcul- 
ated, of thirty thousand. The rain was falling heav- 
ily, but the greatest good humour prevailed amongst 
them, as they quietly and orderly took possession, 
each parish by itself, of the booths assigned to them 
in the open streets or in the adjacent meadows. In 
apprehension of a riot, the Lord Lieutenant had 
massed troops in the neighbourhood. Three hun- 
dred poHcemen had been drafted into the town itself. 
But not a single soldier — not a single policeman — was 
required to preserve order, althou-gh the excitement 
was at fever pitch. It was an extraordinary specta- 
cle. Each day at stated intervals milk, potatoes, and 
oatmeal were served out by the priests to their re- 
spective parishioners. Not a drop of spirituous liquor 
passed their lips the whole time. What a degree of 
moral restraint that in itself implied almost passes 
belief when one remembers how prone the Irish were 
to faction fights, and that the reputation of county 
Clare in that respect was second only to that of Tip- 
perary. It was as if, conscious that the eyes of the 
whole nation were fixed upon them, they had re- 
gistered a vow to do their duty manfully and unself- 
ishly, and to show themselves worthy of the liberty 
for which they were fighting. Their victory was un- 
sullied by a single breach of the peace, and it was a 
victory such as no one had dreamed of. O'Connell 
had done them the honour to solicit their suffrages : 



204 Daniel O' Connell. ri828- 

they showed themselves worthy of the honour he had 
conferred on them. Men who had entered the town 
subservient to the will of their masters broke away 
from them when they reached the polling booth. The 
landlords were beside themselves with rage. One of 
them, Hickman by name, swore to O'Connell that if 
he canvassed a single one of his tenants he would 
shoot him dead. O'Connell replied by canvassing 
every one of them. That day the priest was mightier 
than the landlord. A word — a look — sufificed, and 
another vote was registered for O'Connell. Com- 
plaints were raised of sacerdotal tyranny ; but those 
who complained forgot that if it was a tyranny it was 
one of the peasants' own choosing. The fact was, the 
election wore the aspect of a religious ceremony. 
The Covenanter standing up against Claverhouse's 
dragoons at Bothwell Brig commands our wonder: 
is the half-starved peasant defying his landlord 
at Ennis less worthy of admiration? To both the 
object was the same — religious and civil freedom. 
The minister of the Kirk, the priest of the Church, 
both were redolent of the soil ; peasants for the 
most part, both of them. During the election a 
forty-shilling freeholder faltered in the path of duty 
and voted for Fitzgerald. A priest announced the 
fact to his audience, and a cry of anger burst from 
their lips. " Silence ! " exclaimed the priest ; " kneel 
down and pray for his soul. The man died last 
night." Under similar circumstances, rnight not 
words of similar import have been spoken by a 
follower of John Knox — by a Peden or a Cameron? 
As at Waterford, the first day's polling practically 



1829] Emancipation. 205 

decided the contest ; by the end of the second day 
the only question was how great O'Connell's majority 
would be. On Saturday Fitzgerald withdrew from 
the struggle. He had polled all the gentry and all 
the i^5o freeholders ; but the majority against him 
was 1075, more than two to one. Announcing his 
defeat to Peel he wrote, ** The election, thank God, 
is over, and I do feel happy in its being terminated, 
notwithstanding its result. . . . All the great 
interests broke down, and the desertion has been 
universal. Such a scene as we have had ! Such a 
tremendous prospect as it opens to us ! " The 
Sheriff, leaving the House of Commons to decide 
the knotty point whether as a Catholic O'Connell 
could take his seat, announced that he had been duly 
elected M.P. for the county of Clare. The battle 
had been fought and won — not by the individual 
efforts of one man, but by the united exertions of 
the forty-shilling freeholders. But for this result 
one man alone was responsible. That O'Connell 
was a duly elected member of Parliament was the 
fruit of his long years of patient toil and unselfish 
devotion to the Catholic cause. It was the symbol 
of the revolution which he had by his own unaided 
exertions brought to pass in Ireland. The joy of 
the Catholics was unbounded. They insisted on 
chairing him through Ennis, and when he left the 
town they escorted him, each with a green bough in 
his hand, to the confines of the county. The en- 
thusiasm communicated itself to the soldiery, and 
unmindful of military decorum they cheered the pro- 
cession as it defiled before them, one young sergeant 



2o6 Daniel O' ConnelL [1828- 

in his ardour even quitting the ranks to grasp the 
Liberator's hand for a moment. As the procession- 
ists approached Limerick, and while they were still 
five miles from the city, they were met by an im- 
mense concourse of men, women, and children. It 
seemed as if the entire city had come out to welcome 
the victor, and as they passed the stone on which 
the broken treaty of Limerick had been signed the 
cheers of fifty thousand voices rent the air in jubila- 
tion for the first Catholic returned to Parliament 
since its violation. All the way to Dublin he was 
greeted with similar manifestations of rejoicing, and, 
though he travelled principally by night, he found 
the inhabitants of each town assembled before their 
chapels to greet his arrival with bonfires and other 
demonstrations of public joy. 

One of his first acts after his election had been to 
use his privilege as M.P. to frank letters, and it was 
through them that people in Dublin were first made 
acquainted with his success. But would he be 
allowed to take his seat ? That was the question on 
everybody's lips. During the election he had made 
the astounding discovery that there was nothing to 
prevent a Catholic sitting in Parliament. The an- 
nouncement of his discovery staggered everybody. 
What, it was asked, had all the bother about eman- 
cipation been if no restrictions ever existed ? The 
fact was O'Connell had actually hit on an ambiguity 
in the Act of Union ; but the common-sense con- 
struction of the words left little hope of his being 
able to prove his contention. Still the ambiguity 
existed, and caused no little consternation among 



1829] Emaiicipation. 207 

the constitutional authorities in England. Croker 
and others talked nonsense about compelling O'Con- 
nell to take his seat, and then, upon his declining to 
take the oaths, to declare his seat void and issue a 
new writ. But O'Connell was anxious to see what 
effect his election would have on the general question 
before imperilling his position, and the session came 
to an end without any attempt on his part to claim 
his seat. 

His election had given a great impetus to the 
movement. The week following it the contributions 
to the Rent amounted to ;^2704, and preparations 
were made for extending the experiment begun in 
Clare to other Catholic constituencies. In Munster, 
Connaught, and Leinster, the organisation of the 
Catholic Association was fairly perfect ; but it had 
practically made no progress in Ulster. The pro- 
vince which- had headed the volunteer movement, 
which had given birth to the United Irish Society, 
which in the days of Wolfe Tone had been the back- 
bone of nationalism, was now not only apathetic in 
the cause, but strongly opposed to the concession 
of the Catholic claims. Men spoke of the *' Black 
North," and wondered at the incomprehensible 
change that had taken place. But there was no- 
thing really very incomprehensible in it. A careful 
perusal of Wolfe Tone's Memoirs will help to throw 
considerable light on the subject. But if one would 
thoroughly understand the position of Ulster in 
Irish politics in the nineteenth century one must go 
back to the days of the plantation under James I. 
This is hardly the place for a full discussion of the 



2o8 Dan? el O' Connell. [1828- 

subject, but a few remarks may help to throw some 
light on a problem that baffled O'Connell's efforts to 
solve. Ulster, with the possible exception of county 
Monaghan, is essentially a Scottish settlement — in 
customs, language, religion, and national feeling. 
The lines of its history follow on those of Scotlan-d 
rather than on those of England. Instead of be- 
coming assimilated to the bulk of the population as 
the English in Leinster and Munster, the Scottish 
settlers in Ulster, and their descendants, have always 
maintained their native individuality. The fact was 
recognisable in the seventeenth century : it is recog- 
nisable at the present moment. It was a stumbling- 
block to Strafford, to Cromwell, to O'Connell, — to 
English Churchman, English Nonconformist, and 
Irish Catholic alike, — to the three greatest men 
Ireland has ever known. 

To speak of Ulster as the "Black North," if by 
" black " is meant unenlightened, is a misuse of 
words. Scotland — meaning always the Lowlands — 
since its great awakening in the sixteenth century 
cannot be called an unenlightened nation. Stub- 
born, pertinacious in sticking to its view of the truth, 
illiberal in the application of its principles, it may 
be ; but in steadfastness, honesty, and intellectual 
acquirements it holds a first place among nations. 
Having settled its destiny by one great national effort, 
it has since steadily pursued the even tenor of its 
way. Its people, apart from its metaphysicians, are 
a canny, douce sort of folk, unfond of experiments 
touching the ordinary conditions of life. In England 
two and two has sometimes meant five : in Scotland 



1829] Emancipation. 209 

never. Hence, while England, with a chequered 
career, has always led the van of political and social 
progress, Scotland has kept quietly by her old ways 
until convinced that change meant progress and not 
retrogression. What Scotland has been to England, 
Ulster has in a measure been to the rest of Ireland. 
Even the execrable government of her Westmore- 
lands, her Camdens, and her Clares could hardly 
disturb her equanimity. A few adventurous souls 
rushed into the conflict ; but Ulster herself was glad 
when the Union put an end to the turmoil, and let 
her get on with her work. Unimaginative, indus- 
trious, liberal within certain limits, and self-reliant, 
all she asked for was to be let alone. True, she had 
her own grievances, but these would right themselves 
in time. Meanwhile Ulster was n't Turkey. People 
could grow rich, stick by their old faiths, and die 
quietly like rational creatures. She was a little bit 
of Scotland and felt herself more Scotch than Irish. 
For her, Connaught and Munster were as much for- 
eign as England was. Had emancipation been con- 
ceded when the Act of Union was carried all would 
have been well. Even the Orange Society, that 
monstrous engine of oppression, was in its first in- 
ception a means of protection rather than a weapon 
of aggression. The mischief was that Government 
mixed itself in the business, and, using it for its own 
purposes, gave it an influence and a significance which 
by itself it would never have possessed. 

Naturally, therefore, when the Association an- 
nounced its determination to extend its propaganda 
within the sacred limits of the northern province the 



2IO Daniel O' Connell. 



[1828 



announcement caused no little ferment amongst 
Ulstermen. And it was, accordingly, in no very 
good humour that the good citizens of Derry col- 
lected, early in August, to listen to a political address 
from their representative in Parliament, Colonel 
Dawson. George Dawson, or *' Derry Dawson," as 
he was better known, was Peel's brother-in-law. He 
held a subordinate office in the Wellington ministry 
and hitherto had been counted a staunch opponent 
of Catholic emancipation. But he was a man of 
candid mind and, as we have seen, had openly 
admitted to O'Connell that his examination before 
the Committee of the House of Commons had 
removed many of his prejudices. In the interval 
he had given much thought to the subject, and after 
the Clare election he had come to the conclusion 
that further resistance to the demands of the Catho- 
lics was not only useless but senseless. Having the 
courage of his opinions, he had called his constitu- 
ents together to listen to his views on the subject. 
It was a stormy meeting. After listening incredul- 
ously to him a little time, his audience no sooner 
realised his meaning than groans and hisses inter- 
rupted his further progress. When he stated that, 
in the opinion of some, rebellion was the upshot of 
the Association, the meeting cheered him to the 
echo : when he proceeded to announce that such 
was not his belief, his words were drowned in a storm 
of hisses. Matters improved somewhat towards the 
end, when he uttered a serious warning to the Asso- 
ciation that Ulstermen would resist even to blood- 
shed any invasion of the province. But the general 



1829] Emmicipation. 2 1 1 

impression left by his speech was that Administra- 
tion was preparing to capitulate to the Catholics. 

His warning was despised, and a few days after- 
wards John Lawless, commissioned by the Associa- 
tion, prepared to invade Ulster. It was a hazardous 
experiment and the instrument chosen was about as 
incompetent for the delicate task entrusted to him 
as could well have been found. Rash and head- 
strong, the chances were ten to one that if he per- 
sisted in his attempt he would cause serious trouble 
in the north. Nevertheless O'Connell had convinced 
himself that the experiment was one worth making. 
For himself he did not believe that there was any- 
thing but bluster in Dawson's threat. " The mission 
of Mr. Lawless," he wrote to the Secretary of the 
Association in a letter intended for the public, 

" is, in my opinion, one of the greatest importance, and 
the entire country anxiously expects the details of his 
progress. ... I am at present more anxious 
about him, because of a ludicrous threat which appears 
to have been thrown out against him at the Derry 
Dinner. . . . Mr. Lawless will, I am sure, proceed, 
holding such threats in thorough contempt — he will 
actually organise the collection of the Catholic Rent in 
as many parishes as possible ; he will reconcile parties ; 
abolish secret societies and illegal oaths from amongst 
the People ; soothe and allay the irritation caused by 
illegal orgies of the Orangemen ; and in short, whilst he 
promotes constitutional and strictly legal exertions for 
national freedom, he will, I trust, restore to the North 
that tranquillity and peace which now so gloriously dis- 
tinguishes the other three Provinces of Ireland." 



212 Daniel O'Connell. [t828- 

But as Lawless neared the confines of Ulster, the 
difficulties and dangers of the mission he had under- 
taken began to strike him more forcibly. He had, 
however, announced his intention of entering the 
*' Black North," at Ballybay, on the borders of county 
Monaghan, and he kept his word. On the day 
appointed, and accompanied, it was said, by 140,000 
peasants, some of them with arms concealed under 
their coats, he set out for Ballybay ; but as he 
approached the town, he found the heights above 
it occupied by from two to three thousand resolute 
Orangemen determined to bar his progress. The 
responsibility was too much for him, and despite 
the encouraging shouts of his followers he ignomin- 
iously but wisely beat a hasty retreat. What the 
consequences might have been had he persisted it 
is, says the historian of the Association, not difficult 
to conjecture. *' Ballybay might have been entered, 
but a rebellion that night would have commenced 
in Ireland." 

The fact is, that at no time since the Union was 
the state of affairs more critical than it was in the 
month of August, 1828. So unaccustomed indeed, 
was the mass of the people to the idea of con- 
stitutional agitation that, notwithstanding all O'Con- 
nell's preaching, they confidently expected it was 
only a step to a national rising. Especially was this 
the case among the peasants of Tipperary. Unfortu- 
nately, too, O'Connell's utterances at this time lent 
considerable sanction to this perverted view of the 
situation. About the very time that Lawless in- 
vaded Ulster, a great provincial meeting was held 



1829] Efnancipation. 213 

at Clonmel. Alluding to a threat of armed resist- 
ance against the Association on the part of certain 
leading Orangemen he had exclaimed : 

" Would to God that our excellent viceroy, Lord An- 
glesey, would only give me a commission, and if those 
men of blood should attempt to attack the property and 
persons of his Majesty's loyal subjects, with a hundred 
thousand of my brave Tipperary boys I would soon 
drive them into the sea before me." 

The words were a mere rhetorical device delivered 
in the heat of the moment ; but to his audience 
they conveyed a very different and much more 
sinister meaning. After the meeting the question 
was frequently heard, ''When will he call us out?" 
The answer as often as not was a finger on the lip, 
and a significant smile and wink. Many of the 
peasants, too, had arms concealed near their cottages 
in bogs and recesses in the mountains. Believing 
that they had the encouragement of their leaders 
and that Government was actually on their side, it 
was not long before they proceeded from words to 
deeds. Meetings multiplied and there was much 
marching to and fro with banners. An insult offered 
to a priest by a policeman during one of their pro- 
cessions was avenged in the most approved style. 
Within a few hours afterwards the barracks went 
up in flames. Consternation seized the local authori- 
ties, and application was at once made to the Asso- 
ciation to interfere in the interests of peace. 

O'Connell, little dreaming of the mischief his 
words had caused, had gone to Darrynane ; but 



2 14 Daniel O' Connell. [1828- 

Sheil was in Dublin and he acted with comnnendable 
promptitude. On 25th September he addressed the 
Association on the subject. The Government, by 
allowing the Catholic question to convulse the 
country and by not interposing for its adjustment, 
had, he averred, caused the mind of Ireland to 
be infuriated to such a point that any unfortunate 
contingency might throw the country into a con- 
vulsion. The oldest man who heard him did not 
remember the time when national passion ran so 
high. For himself, he was at a loss to see any 
benefit to be derived from the meetings and march- 
ings to which so much anxious attention had been 
lately directed, beyond the evidence which they 
afforded of the colossal power of the people ; and 
of that amazing strength he thought that there had 
been perhaps proof enough given. It was excellent 
to have a giant's strength, but it was rash to use it 
after that gigantic fashion. Let them rather show 
the Marquis of Anglesey that Ireland could be 
governed upon different principles ; let them show 
him what a wise government could be, by perform- 
ing the part of a wise government themselves, and 
prove with what facility Irishmen could be con- 
trolled. 

Before the meeting separated resolutions were 
passed dissuading the people from holding tumult- 
uous assemblies and inviting O'Connell " to em- 
ploy his powerful and deserved authority " to the 
same end. O'Connell's address appeared on 30th 
September. Next day a Government proclamation 
forbidding such assemblages was published. It was 



1829] Emaiicipatio7t. 215 

hardly needed. The peasantry had yielded instant 
obedience to the order of the Association backed by 
the authority of O'Connell, and all danger of an in- 
surrection was practically over. For this result the 
wise forbearance of the Marquis of Anglesey's Gov- 
ernment was largely responsible. Already, in April, 
he had given it as his opinion that the only way to 
restore peace was " by taking Messrs. O'Connell and 
Shell from the Association and placing them in the 
House of Commons." He had viewed with sym- 
pathy, if he did not actually suggest, the idea of 
O'Connell contesting County Clare, and during the 
autumn he had anxiously expected some sign of 
concession on the part of Administration, which 
never came. Even when the situation grew critical 
he had acted with the utmost moderation, relying, 
and not without reason, on the good sense of the 
Association. His letters, while they faithfully de- 
picted the danger of procrastination, were studiously 
calm, and gave no sanction to measures of a repress- 
ive character. 

" It seems," he wrote on 8th September, " agreed that the 
public feeling was never at so high a pitch of excitement 
as at the present time. The language of both parties is 
violent in the extreme, and both appear ripe for action. 
The organisation of the Catholics is very complete. 
. . . The speakers continue to be inflammatory. Ex- 
pressions might possibly be noted that would admit of 
prosecution ; but in general the language is nicely meas- 
ured, and so equivocal as to admit of an explanation that 
might be strained into an excess of loyalty and a nervous 
warning to the State of the danger to which it is exposed. 



2i6 Daniel O^ Connell. 



[1828- 



. . . The Brunswickers are rivalling the Association 
in violence and in Rent. Two Associations and two 
Rents are rather formidable. The Brunswick establish- 
ment is not very flattering to the king or his ministers, or 
to the army — since it deems it necessary to take the 
whole under its especial protection. This is a most dis- 
tressing state of things, and I defy anyone to pro- 
nounce upon the result ; but this I know, that things 
must not remain long as they are. I cannot see far be- 
fore me. I can only guess at what is likely to happen 
for a few months. I calculate upon a quiet winter in 
acts ; but not in language. I ground my opinion upon 
this — the Catholics are persuaded the Brunswickers will 
bring on a collision if they can, with the view of com- 
mitting the Government against them. This is what the 
leaders will endeavour to avoid, and with the power they 
possess over the minds of the multitude possibly they 
may succeed ; and then there will be probably even less 
crime and nightly outrage than has been usual. Even 
if there be any project of insurrection, which I do not 
believe, the winter would not be the chosen season. I 
can imagine nothing less inviting than a rebel bivouac 
during a long, dreary winter's night. Therefore it ap- 
pears to me probable that you will have time to legislate 
before we begin to fight." 

Instead of legislation, or an intimation that legis- 
lation was intended, came troops. '' I must say," 
he wrote to the Duke of Wellington on 6th Novem- 
ber, not without a touch of sarcasm, " you certainly 
do not do things by halves. Why, you have placed 
at my disposal troops enough to control the Bruns- 
wickers and the Association, even if they should 
coalesce and combine to make war upon me." But 



t829] Emajiczpalwn. 2 1 7 

in fact the situation was by no means so simple 
as Anglesey imagined it to be. Himself a plain, 
straightforward soldier, and no politician, he could 
see only one solution to the difficulty — emancipa- 
tion. No doubt he was right. But for Wellington 
and Peel there were other considerations to be taken 
into account. Not only had they to overcome their 
own reluctance to a step which they had hitherto 
consistently opposed ; but there was the King to be 
considered, and his scruples were as strong as ever. 
Consequently, Anglesey's advocacy of concession 
served rather to irritate than to conciliate them. 
The King indeed was so angry at what he regarded 
as a piece of treachery that in August he urged 
Wellington to recall him. But the latter, fearing 
that such a step would aggravate the situation, de- 
clined to countenance the suggestion. So matters 
went on till November, each day bringing some fresh 
ground of friction between ministers and the Irish 
government. In vain did Wellington try to make 
up his mind as to the proper course to pursue. On 
i6th November he suggested to the King the de- 
sirability of yielding. The danger of delay he in- 
sisted was very great. But the King was obstinate. 
The Prime Minister was at his wits' end. He could 
see no prospect of an immediate settlement, so he 
wrote in answer to a letter from his old acquaint- 
ance, Dr. Curtis, the Catholic Archbisop of Armagh, 
unless the question was buried for a time and the 
interval employed in diligently considering the diffi- 
culties besetting the question. Archbishop Curtis 
transmitted his letter to the Lord Lieutenant, and 



2i8 Daniel O' Connell. [1828- 

in acknowledging it Anglesey admitted that he had 
the misfortune to differ in his opinion from the 
Duke. He saw no possibility of burying the ques- 
tion, nor advantage likely to follow from the attempt. 
On the contrary, he advised the Catholics not to lose 
sight of the measure for one moment, but to press it 
forward by every constitutional means in their 
power. The question was one for the Legislature 
to decide, and his greatest anxiety was that it should 
be met by the Parliament under the most favourable 
circumstances, and that the opposers of Catholic 
emancipation should be disarmed by the patient for- 
bearance, as well as by the unwearied perseverance, 
of its advocates. 

The publication of Wellington's letter and Angle- 
sey's reply brought matters to a crisis. A week af- 
terwards the latter was recalled. When the fact 
became known, addresses of sympathy flowed in 
upon him from all sides. Never since the recall of 
Earl Fitzwilliam had Ireland been so profoundly 
moved as on the day when he bade farewell to them. 
With a modesty and self-restraint that became him 
well, and added dignity to his withdrawal, he re- 
frained from making any parade of the chagrin he 
doubtless felt, and from increasing the difficulties of 
Administration by countenancing any public demon- 
stration in his favour. But the people were not to 
be denied the melancholy pleasure of testifying to 
the grief they felt at his departure, and when Angle- 
sey quitted Dublin the road, all the way to Kings- 
town, where he was to embark, was lined with 
citizens whose sad demeanour bore witness to the 



1829J Ernancipation. 219 

sorrow with which they parted from him. Here 
and there, one saw flags with sentences from his 
now famous letter inscribed on them, and as he rode 
silently and bareheaded through their midst men's 
thoughts instinctively turned to Fitzwilliam. Would 
the same results follow from Anglesey's recall ? 
Would the agitation be once more stamped out in 
blood ? So at least the Orangemen construed the 
action of the Government. Their satisfaction knew 
no bounds, and they openly proclaimed that secret 
alliance between the Crown and themselves of which 
they had hitherto boasted in private. Their view 
of the situation was shared by the Catholics. But 
whatever their fears, their actions displayed no 
timidity. They remembered Anglesey's parting ad- 
vice to them, and determined at all hazards not to 
lose sight of emancipation for one moment. 

That the King would have felt no hesitation in 
throwing the sword into the balance, and by every 
means in his power supporting the Orangemen and 
Brunswickers, even at the risk of a civil war, is ex- 
tremely probable. But neither Wellington nor Peel 
was prepared to go to these extreme lengths. The 
time, they felt, had come when emancipation in some 
shape or form must be conceded. The danger of 
procrastination was too great to be encountered. 
Moreover, it was doubtful if the army, in which so 
many Catholics were incorporated, would stand the 
strain which the policy advocated by the King would 
place upon it. '^ There are," said a soldier in the 21st 
Fusileers, a nominally Scottish regiment, " two ways 
of firing — at a man and over a man ; and if we were 



2 20 Daniel O'Connell. [1828- 

called out against O'Connell and our country, I 
think we should know the difference." In fact, An- 
glesey's recall, as events proved, instead of being a 
sign that Administration was resolved to stick to its 
guns, was the first step towards capitulation. But 
the secret was so well kept that it was not till the 
very eve of the meeting of Parliament, on 6th 
February, 1829, that any token of their intention 
was given. 

The day before, O'Connell, who was preparing to 
leave for London, addressed the Association for the 
last time. Alluding to the rumour which had 
reached him, he moved that on the day emancipation 
received the royal assent the Association should be 
dissolved. 

" But," he added significantly, "nothing less than un- 
conditional emancipation will satisfy us : and although 
we would not refuse an instalment of seven shillings and 
sixpence given us unconditionally, we should not lose 
sight of the remainder of the debt. . . . Until re- 
ligious liberty is established in Ireland the labours 
of the Association shall continue ; the moment there 
shall be a repeal of oppressive laws on account of relig- 
ion, the Association shall be extinguished, and Catho- 
lics shall mingle indiscriminately with the rest of their 
fellow-citizens. But the attention to national interests 
. . . which has been generated by an all-absorbing and 
lengthened controversy, shall still survive ; and although 
by the abolition of distinctions, on account of religion. 
Catholics shall no more be heard of as separate political 
advocates, that spirit has grown up amongst the people 
which shall inspire them to new and glorious efforts of 



1829] Emancipation. 221 

patriotism, until Ireland shall become what God and 
nature intended her to be." 

Next day he left Dublin, and arriving in London 
on the i6th, accompanied by Messrs. O'Gorman, 
Bellew, O'Gorman Mahon, and Steele, took up his 
quarters at Bett's Hotel in Dover Street. The jour- 
ney had not been without some personal danger to 
himself. Anti-popery feeling ran very strong in the 
counties through which he had to travel ; at Shrews- 
bury his carriage broke down, and in the chief towns, 
particularly in Coventry, he was greeted with menac- 
ing shouts of ''No Popery!" and "Down with O'Con- 
nell ! " The Speech from the Throne had answered 
the expectations created by the rumour of the inten- 
tions of Government. The Association was to be 
suppressed ; but its suppression was to be followed 
by a measure of Catholic relief. The Bill for the sup- 
pression of the Association was introduced by Peel 
on the very day O'Connell arrived in London. Be- 
ing limited in its operation to twelve months it 
encountered little opposition in Parliament even from 
the friends of the Catholics, by whom it was regarded 
as a necessary preliminary to the measure of pacifi- 
cation intended to be immediately brought forward 
by Government ; and on 5th March it received the 
royal assent. By that time the Association had 
ceased to exist. Its dissolution, however, had not 
been accompHshed without some little friction among 
the leaders of the Catholics. O'Connell, who had 
made emancipation, actual and real, a sine qua non, 
had written from Shrewsbury opposing that step. 



2 22 Daniel O'Connell. [1828- 

" Ireland," he declared, " had never yet confided but 
she had been betrayed." His view was opposed by 
Sheil and Lawless, and after a fierce debate the As- 
sociation agreed on I2th February to dissolve. Its 
last act was to place on record " that we are indebted 
to Daniel O'Connell, beyond all other men, for its 
original creation and sustainment ; that he is en- 
titled for the achievement of its freedom to the ever- 
lasting gratitude of Ireland." But it was with a 
feeling of almost parental sadness that O'Connell 
witnessed a period put to its labours. " How mis- 
taken men are," he wrote, " who suppose that the 
history of the world will be over as soon as we are 
emancipated ! Oh ! that will be the time to commence 
the struggle for popular rights." 

Meanwhile he still delayed to present himself for 
admission into the House of Commons. Petitions 
had been lodged against his return on the ground of 
undue clerical influence, and he was moreover anx- 
ious to see what form the Bill for Emancipation would 
take before staking his chance on the interpretation 
he placed on the Act of Union. On 6th March the 
committee selected to try the merits of the petitions 
against him unanimously decided in his favour. The 
previous day Peel submitted the Government scheme 
for the removal of the disabilities attaching to Roman 
Catholics to the House of Commons. In itself it 
commanded O'Connell's entire approval. It was 
*' frank, direct, complete," containing no reference to 
a veto or other securities. '* I always said," he wrote 
to Sugrue, " that when they came to emancipate 
they would not care a bulrush about those vetoistical 



1829] Ema^icipation. 223 

arrangements, which so many paltry Catholics from 
time to time pressed on me as useful to emancipa- 
tion." Unfortunately the Emancipation Bill did not 
stand alone. It was accompanied by two supple- 
mentary measures — the one to prevent the extension 
of monastic institutions ; the other for the disfran- 
chisement of the forty-shilling freeholders. In regard 
to the former O'Connell staked his reputation to '* run 
a coach-and-six three times told " through it, and as 
a matter of fact it was never executed : as to the 
latter, he determined to offer every possible resist- 
ance in his power to it. The day following, 7th 
March, addressing a meeting of Catholics in the 
Thatched House Tavern he strongly protested against 
any attempt to interfere with the elective franchise. 
The Catholics, he insisted, were bound by every tie of 
gratitude to stand by and protect the forty-shilling 
freeholders, and at his suggestion a resolution was 
passed calling on the Whigs to oppose the freehold 
wing at all hazards. But every effort to prevent their 
disfranchisement failed. It was, said Brougham, the 
price — the almost extravagant price — of the inestim- 
able good which would result from the Relief Bill. 
On 30th March the Emancipation Bill passed the 
Commons by a majority of 178 ; it was read for a 
third time in the House of Lords on loth April, and 
on the 13th the royal assent was given by commis- 
sion to it and the Freeholds' (Ireland) Regulation Bill. 
The victory had been won. After twenty-nine 
years of stubborn, obstinate resistance, England had 
consented to redeem Pitt's pledge, and to pay the 
price stipulated for the Union. That emancipation 



2 24 Daniel O' Connell. [1828- 

might have been as easily conceded in 1800 as it 
was in 1829 hardly anyone will now venture to gain- 
say. But, had it been conceded in 1800, its conces- 
sion would have altered the whole subsequent course 
of Irish history. Then it would have come as a boon 
— as a token that England was both able and willing 
to measure out equal justice to every class and sect 
in Ireland. It would have conciliated national feel- 
ing and have atoned for the loss of the national legis- 
lature. Coming, however, as it did, not as a free 
gift, but as the price paid to prevent a civil war, it 
failed to kindle the smallest spark of national grati- 
tude. Twist the matter as one may, it is clear that 
England's necessity, and not England's justice, was 
responsible for the concession. Her statesmen had 
boasted that they would yield to no compulsion, and 
yet two of her strongest ministers — Wellington and 
Peel — had so yielded, and that without any further 
reasons being adduced than had been brought for- 
ward a quarter of a century before. It is useless to 
conceal the fact. Emancipation was a victory. The 
battle had lasted twenty-nine years, and Ireland had 
conquered. That she had conquered, she owed to 
the exertions of one man — to O'Connell. Without 
the stimulus afforded by his agitation, the necessity 
of yielding on the part of England would never have 
arisen. That emancipation must sooner or later 
have been conceded, those who believe in a divine pur- 
pose working through the affairs of men will find it 
hard to combat. But that it would have come when 
it did, and without trammels of one sort or another, 
is, humanly speaking, highly improbable. 




STATUE OF O'CONNELL, CITY HALL, DUBLIN. 



1829] Emancipation. 225 

Naturally, to those who had taken an active part 
in the struggle, the Act of Emancipation seemed to 
possess an importance which intrinsically did not be- 
long to it. In itself its value proved infinitesimal. 
Neverthess, O'Connell, writing to Sugrue on 14th 
April — " the first day of Freedom," as he headed his 
letter — did not exaggerate when he called it " one of 
the greatest triumphs recorded in history — a blood- 
less revolution more extensive in its operation than 
any other political change that could take place." It 
was all that, and the price paid for it ^ the disfran- 
chisement of the forty-shilling freeholders — was not 
too great for the benefits that flowed from it. To 
see, however, in the disfranchisement of the forty- 
shilling freeholders the chief significance of the Act 
of Emancipation is far too limited a view to take of 
the subject. Ireland in 1800 was a lifeless log; in 
1829 it was a living, sensitive organism. The agita- 
tion for emancipation had wrought the change. In 
1793 the Irish Parliament had conceded the elective 
franchise to the Roman Catholics, at the same time 
denying to them the right to sit in Parliament. It 
was, as Grattan then and there pointed out, an egre- 
gious blunder — a varepov Ttporepov in politics, and a 
premium placed on poverty and corruption. From 
that date till 1826 the forty-shilling freeholders were 
a drag on national progress. O'Connell's view in 
that respect was perfectly sound. Then came the 
unexpected awakening, and the revolt of the forty- 
shilling freeholders. The blunder that had been 
committed in 1793 was then transparent. It was 
then evident that to concede emancipation, t. e., to 



2 26 Da 11 iel O ' Con nelL 



[1828- 



allow to Catholics the right to sit in ParHament with- 
out raising the electoral franchise, was to sanction a 
revolution in Ireland the consequences of which 
could not be foreseen. For of the ability of O'Con- 
nell to carry the majority of seats at the next ensu- 
ing general election there could not be the slightest 
question ; in which case 1829 would have anticipated 
1886. The fact was, the forty-shilling freeholders 
were an anomaly in the constitution, and so long as 
the franchise in England continued to be restricted, 
their disfranchisement was no injustice to Ireland. 
Even O'Connell, while regretting the fact in itself, 
was obliged to confess that the freehold wing was as 
little objectionable in its details as such a Bill could 
possibly be. It made the right of voting clear and 
distinct ; its only evil was of course the increase of 
the qualification. In a word, emancipation coupled 
with disfranchisement simply repaired the blunder 
committed in 1793. But in the meantime a new order 
of things had come into existence, and for that new 
order of things the agitation for emancipation was 
responsible. '' It is a good beginning," wrote O'Con- 
nell ; *' and now, if I can get Catholics and Protestants 
to join, something solid and substantial may be done 
for all." It was a beginning — a beginning of every 
concession since made to Ireland. Herein lay its 
significance. 

In Ireland the news of the victory caused a pro- 
found impression. But every precaution had been 
taken by the Catholics to prevent any outburst of 
popular feeling which might be construed into an 
insult to the Protestants. The predominant desire 



1829] Emancipation. 227 

on the part of the former was for reconciliation, and, 
as Peel confessed, the first results of emancipation 
were a far greater calm in Ireland than he had ever 
known to exist there. But if in this respect the 
Catholics yielded a ready obedience to the instruc- 
tions of their leaders, they were not to be debarred 
from showing their gratitude to the author of their 
newly recovered liberties. A subscription for a na- 
tional testimonial to O'Connell was set on foot. The 
idea, following the precedent set by the Irish Par- 
liament in the case of Grattan, was to purchase him 
an estate ; but when it was afterwards found that he 
intended to abandon his professional career, and to 
devote himself entirely to advocating the cause of 
Ireland in Parliament, the plan developed into that 
of an annual tribute which seldom fell below i^ 16,000, 
and occasionally attained much more handsome di- 
mensions. The manager and treasurer of the fund 
was his old friend, P. V. Fitzpatrick ; and to his 
business-like capacity and unflagging devotion 
O'Connell was infinitely indebted for the regular 
supply of those sinews of war without which his 
agitation would have been deprived of its chief 
weight. 

Meanwhile, he had been trying by every means 
within his power to smooth the way for his admis- 
sion into Parliament. On 9th May, he addressed a 
long letter to every individual member of the House 
of Commons, pleading his right to take his seat, first, 
on the ground of the Relief Act, and, secondly, be- 
cause no Act positively prohibiting Roman Catholics 
sitting in Parliament had been passed since the 



2 28 Da 11 iel O'Connell. [1828- 



Union. He was assured that Government did not 
mean to make a question of it, and he was hopeful 
of success, his only doubt arising from the Hne of 
conduct which the Speaker, Manners Sutton, the 
nephew of his old enemy, Lord Manners, might pur- 
sue. On Friday, 15th May, Sir Francis Burdett 
moved that he might be admitted to his seat on 
taking the oath provided by the Emancipation Act. 
At Peel's request the debate was adjourned to the 
following Monday. On that day, O'Connell was 
heard at the bar in support of the claim. His speech 
was calm and temperate, his manner that of a pol- 
ished gentleman, and his argument, if not convinc- 
ing, won at least the praise of some of the ablest 
lawyers in the House. 

" Brougham," he wrote with justifiable pride to his cous- 
in, Charles Sugrue, ''told me to-day that there was but 
one opinion on the subject of my speech, and that is, that 
my success in a Parliamentary career is quite certain. 
Lord Lansdowne conveyed to me, through Tom Moore, 
his opinion that from report he had conceived that, how- 
ever suited to a popular assembly, or mob, my eloquence 
would not answer for the refinement of Parliament, but 
that he was now decidedly convinced of the contrary. 
The Marquis of Anglesey came to see me twice with a 
still more flattering judgment." 

After listening to him, however, the House de- 
cided by 190 to 116 that, having been elected before 
the passing of the Relief Act, he could not be allowed 
to sit unless he took the oath obligatory on all 
members at the time, and a motion was carried that 
he should attend the next eveninsr and the clerk 



1829] Emancipation. 229 

should tender him that oath at the table of the 
House. 

" I was present," writes Rickard O'Connell, " and any- 
one who witnessed the scene can never forget it. The 
excitement was intense ; breathless silence prevailed in 
that crowded assembly when he was introduced by Sir F. 
Burdett and Lord Dancannon. The Speaker then in- 
formed him of the resolution of the House on the previous 
night — that he could not take his seat unless he took the 
oath prescribed at the time he was elected. The Liberator 
then said, " May I ask to see the oath ? " The clerk was 
directed to hand him the oath, which was printed on a 
large card. O'Connell put on his spectacles and perused 
the oath with deepest attention. One would suppose he 
had never seen the oath before ; during the few minutes 
he was so perusing it the smallest pin could be heard 
drop. He then said, ' I see in the oath one assertion as 
to a matter of fact which I kiiow to be false. I see in it 
another assertion as to a matter of opinion which I 
believe to be untrue. I therefore refuse to take that 
oath,' and with an expression of the most profound 
contempt, he flung the card from him on the table of the 
House. The House was literally ^struck of a heap.' No 
other phrase that I know of but that quaint old-fashioned 
one can accurately describe the feeling of amazement 
that pervaded Parliament for some minutes after the 
card was thus contemptuously flung on the table. The 
Speaker then said : ' The hon. and learned gentleman, 
having refused to take the oath, will please retire below 
the bar,' and the Liberator, again leaning on Burdett 
and Duncannon, came below the bar and sat near me 
under the gallery. In the debate that ensued, the 
speakers on all sides paid him the highest compliments. 



230 Daniel O' Connell. L1828- 

but it ended in the issuing of a new writ for Clare. The 
words I give are the ipsissii7ia verba — the precise sylla- 
bles used by him on that memorable occasion — and I 
never saw them accurately given yet in any account of 
the transaction." 

The conduct of the House of Commons in rejecting 
O'Connell was no doubt logical enough, but it was 
lacking in generosity, and bore the appearance of a 
petty, vindictive act against a single individual, which, 
as it involved no principle whatever, robbed eman- 
cipation of the little bit of grace that clung to it, 
and demonstrated with what reluctance the conces- 
sion had been made. 

A day or two after his rejection, O'Connell issued 
his second address to the electors of county Clare : 
" the Address of the Hundred Promises," as it was 
ironically styled from the frequent repetition of the 
phrase '* Send me to Parliament, and I will. . . 
After reminding them that it was mainly to their 
exertions that Ireland owed the restoration of her 
religious liberties, he called on them to complete 
their work, and, by again returning him, to assist in 
securing the political freedom of their beloved island. 
For himself, he had little doubt of the result of the 
appeal. Some time would inevitably elapse before 
the election could take place, owing to the necessity 
of reconstructing a fresh registry on the basis of the 
new ;^io franchise. But nothing could be left to 
chance, and it was desirable that he should begin his 
canvass as soon as possible. Accordingly, he returned 
to Dublin on 2nd June. His arrival was the signal 
for another great ovation. This time he had really 



1829] Emancipation. 231 

returned as the Liberator. Once more, thanks to 
him, the Catholics were in possession of those rights 
of which they had for nearly a century and a half 
been deprived. Their joy and gratitude were un- 
bounded. All the way from the landing-place to 
Merrion Square, the streets were thronged with 
people trying by shouting themselves hoarse to show 
how sincere their welcome of him was. And, tired 
though he was, it was only after he had gratified 
them with a few words from the balcony of his house, 
that they at last consented to retire and leave him 
to the privacy of his family. 

Next day he addressed a large gathering in Claren- 
don Street chapel. After alluding to the events 
which had recently taken place — the passing of the 
Emancipation Act and his own rejection — he pro- 
ceeded to discuss their plans for the future. History, 
he said, some people believed had come to a full 
stop because emancipation had been achieved. The 
world was like a clock run down. But they were there 
to wind it up again, and start a fresh agitation. Eman- 
cipation was only a step to Repeal. They were that 
day assembled, not as Catholics but as Irishmen, and 
the object of their meeting was the repeal of the 
Union and the recovery of their rights as a nation. 
Before the meeting separated it voted him the ^^5000 
remaining in the hands of the Association at the time 
of its dissolution, to assist in defraying his election 
expenses. Two or three days afterwards, he set out 
for Ennis. His journey all the way resembled a tri- 
umphal progress. Every town through which he 
passed — Naas, Kildare, Monasterevan, Maryborough, 



232 Da Jiiel O ' Connell. [1828- 

Mountrath, Roscrea — was decked in green. At Ne- 
nagh, which he reached at nightfall, candles were 
shining in every window. At Limerick, while he 
snatched a few hours' sleep, a large tree — roots and 
all — was planted before his hotel, and when he ap- 
peared at the door he was greeted with strains of 
national music from a band adroitly concealed 
amongst its branches. When he left the city, an im- 
mense crowd escorted him on the way to Ennis, 
where, at some distance from the town, a triumphal 
car was waiting for him, on which, '* like Alexander 
entering Babylon," as an admiring reporter had it, 
he accomplished the remainder of his journey. Six 
weeks elapsed before the election took place. But 
banquets, public breakfasts, political meetings, the 
necessity of canvassing locally every part of the 
county, a flying visit to Dublin, another to Lifford, 
and a duel between Tom Steele and Smith O'Brien, 
helped the time over. Every effort was made by 
the Brunswickers to spin out the registry as long as 
possible, and up to the very last moment it was ex- 
pected that they meant to run an opposition candi- 
date. But at last the nomination day, the 30th July, 
arrived, and O'Connell was returned unopposed. 

During the election he had announced his inten- 
tion of devoting himself wholly to a parliamentary 
career, and the first use he made of his new-found 
liberty was to retire for a well-won holiday to Darry- 
nane. One can imagine what happy days he spent 
there, following his beagles afoot in the dewy fresh- 
ness of those early autumn mornings, his enjoyment 
rendered all the more intense by reason of the victory 



1829] Emancipation, 233 

he had won for his native land ; and the pleasant 
evenings that closed the day, in the society of his fam- 
ily and seldom failing guests, whom his hospitable 
board and generous companionship attracted thither. 
How the old rafters must have rung with merry peals 
of laughter from young and old as, in that rich Kerry 
brogue of his, he poured out anecdote on anecdote 
in endless profusion ! Happy days, indeed ! But 
if O'Connell had ever imagined that emancipation 
would put an end to religious dissension in Ireland, 
he was speedily disabused of the idea. True, the 
concession had been made that henceforth Catholic 
and Protestant were on an equality before the law. 
But the Act which, in the quaint language of an 
Irishman, had left Parliament '* as straight as a 
poker," soon, in the hands of the Irish executive, 
became " as twisted as a corkscrew." 

"You are aware," wrote O'Connell to the Knight of 
Kerry on 24th September, '' that the decided countenance 
given to the Orange faction prevents emancipation from 
coming into play. There is more of unjust and unnat- 
ural virulence towards the Catholics in the present ad- 
ministration than existed even before the passing of the 
Emancipation Bill. Before that event, the Irish govern- 
ment was shamed by a sense of decency which is required 
from public hostility. The Relief Bill has just enabled 
them to act with distrust — immediate and personal ran- 
cour on the one hand, and with open and unblushing 
favouritism on the other." 

The fact was that the ministry, having by the 
concession of emancipation thoroughly shaken the 
confidence of their own party, were anxious, by 



234 Daniel O' Connell. [1828- 

displaying a firm front, to show that it was, after all, a 
mere strategic movement devoid of any serious sig- 
nificance, and by strong asseverations of '* thus far 
and no further," to deprive the Emancipation Act, 
as O'Connell complained, of its natural effect. The 
Irish government, under the Duke of Northumber- 
land and Lord Leveson Gower, backed up their 
efforts, and it was not surprising that, with the en- 
couragement thus given to them, the Orangemen 
went a step farther than was intended, and, believing 
that the Catholics had been handed over to their 
mercy, began to inflict personal vengeance on them 
for the defeat they had recently suffered. Not only 
was O'Connell denied admission to the inner Bar — 
a matter of small moment in itself, but significant of 
the general treatment to which the Catholics were 
subjected — but as the summer wore to a close signs 
of stormy weather became more and more visible. 
Deprived of the moral support of the Association 
the Catholic peasantry fell back on their old, time- 
dishonoured plans of secret combination. Once 
more Orangeman and Ribbonman confronted each 
other — once more agrarian outrage stalked the land. 
It was the old, old story over again — non-payment 
of rent, followed by ejectment and intimidation. 
For the historian, another lost opportunity on the 
part of England to conciliate Ireland to be recorded. 
In Tipperary the situation grew so serious that 
the magistrates applied to government for military 
protection. The disorder spread into the neighbour- 
ing county of Cork, where a plot to murder certain 
landlords, known as the Doneraile conspiracy, was 



1829] Emancipation. 235 

discovered or concocted. A number of persons im- 
plicated in it were arrested, and in October a special 
commission, presided over by Baron Pennefather and 
Justice Torrens, was sent down to Cork to try them. 
The prosecution was conducted by the Solicitor- 
General, John Doherty, of whose zeal to procure a 
conviction there was not the slightest doubt. The 
trial was on the point of beginning when a messen- 
ger, William Burke, of Ballyhea, — his name deserves 
to be remembered, — sent post-haste to implore 
O'Connell's assistance on behalf of the accused, gal- 
loped up to Darrynane. '' Would the Liberator 
come? If he would, not a moment was to be lost. 
It was Sunday : next morning the trial would begin 
and between them Pennefather and Doherty would 
hang the lot." It was impossible to resist his appeal, 
and, jotting down a few words on paper to the effect 
that he would be in Cork next day, O'Connell made 
instant preparations for his departure. Giving him- 
self hardly time to bait his horse, William Burke, 
bearing the glad tidings that the Liberator would 
come, set out on his return journey. It was eight 
o'clock on the morning of the trial that he reached 
Cork. He had accomplished the whole distance, 
there and back, one hundred and eighty miles, in 
thirty-eight hours. With lightning-like swiftness the 
news spread through the town that O'Connell was 
on his way thither. Despondency gave place to 
hope, and it was felt that if any man could save the 
accused that man would soon be there. 

Meanwhile, the judges had taken their seats. 
O'Connell's letter was read ; but it was impossible, 



236 Daniel O' Connell. [1828- 

said Baron Pennefather, to postpone the business of 
the court. The trial proceeded. Four men were 
found guilty, and sentenced to be hanged in a week. 
The jury had taken five minutes to consider their 
verdict. What of the rest? Would O'Connell 
never come? The excitement was at fever-point 
when suddenly a mighty shout from the crowd out- 
side told that he was there. A minute afterwards he 
entered the court. Bowing to the Bench, and apolo- 
gising for the unprofessional costume in which he 
appeared before them, he obtained permission to 
break his fast while listening to the details of what 
had occurred preceding his arrival. With the help 
of a written deposition of the principal witness, 
which the Solicitor-General had suppressed, he tore 
to shreds the whole case for the prosecution. Un- 
der his cross-examination, the Crown witnesses in- 
volved themselves in such a labyrinth of contradiction 
and confusion that one of them, reduced to confess 
himself a liar, bawled out in agony — " It 's little I 
thought to have met you here to-day, Mr. O'Con- 
nell ! " The same evidence which had served to hang 
four men served to acquit the rest. Never in Ireland 
had justice been rendered with so much dramatic 
effect as it was on this occasion. It was, perhaps 
without exception, the greatest of all O'Connell's 
forensic triumphs. 

But the fact that it was possible for men to be so 
lightly hanged was an additional reason for subject- 
ing the executive to the control of a domestic 
legislature; and, returning to Darrynane, O'Connell 
poured forth in quick succession letter after letter to 



1829] Emancipation. 237 

the people of Ireland, urging the necessity of a vig- 
orous attempt to procure the repeal of the Act of 
Union. In regard to law reform, he professed him- 
self a *' thorough Benthamite." " I truly believe," 
he wrote, ** that there is not in Turkey anything 
more radically despotic towards the poor than the 
present system of magisterial law." Once more he 
called on the Protestants to join with the Catholics 
in trying to obtain justice for their common country. 

"Join with us," he wrote, " to serve that country; 
join with us to lessen burthens, to diminish irresponsible 
power, to increase commerce and manufactures ; to 
establish popular rights, to crush aristocratical monopoly, 
and to build up a system of peaceable, rational freedom, 
which shall exterminate grand-jury jobbing, which shall 
annihilate corporation plunder, which shall secure for 
every man his right to select his representative, and pro- 
tect him, by the secrecy of a ballot, in the exercise of 
that selection, and which, in fine, shall give to Irishmen 
a name, and make Ireland ' great, glorious, and free.' " 




CHAPTER XL 

PARLIAMENTARY REFORM AND TITHES. 
1830-1832. 

ON 4th February, 1830, the first day of the ses- 
sion, O'Connell took his seat, without re- 
mark, in the House of Commons. He was 
verging on fifty-five — an age at which most men 
find it difficult to adapt themselves to new condi- 
tions of activity. True, Grattan had been even older 
when he entered the English Parliament, in 1805 ; but 
he had enjoyed what O'Connell never had — the ben- 
efit of a parliamentary training ; and over against his 
success there was Flood's failure to set. Twenty-five 
years had elapsed since O'Connell entered public life ; 
for twenty years he had been the actual, if not al- 
ways the acknowledged, leader of the Irish Catholics ; 
for the last five years he had been the most important 
factor in the political life of Ireland, and his influence 
was not confined to Ireland alone. In England his 
utterances attracted almost as much notice as those 
of the Prime Minister. In Europe, especially in 
Catholic countries, where the name of Ireland was 

238 



1832] Parliamentary Reform and Tithes. 239 

hardly known, his agitation of the CathoHc question 
had restored its ancient fame. Let the reader turn 
to any old newspaper, English, Irish, or Continental, 
belonging to the years 1827 to 1847, ^^<^ the name 
he is sure oftenest to encounter will be that of 
O'Connell. His enemies said that he had attained a 
fictitious importance, and they hoped that he would 
speedily find his level in the House of Commons. 
But competent judges felt little doubt of his suc- 
cess in a parliamentary career. For himself, being 
anxious to get the ordeal of his maiden speech over 
as soon as possible, he spoke the same evening in 
support of the Amendment to the Address. It was 
a short speech, but it was to the point, and at the 
conclusion of it he was warmly cheered from all 
sides. Next day he wrote to his cousin Sugrue : " I 
am fast learning the tone and temper of the House, 
and in a week or so you will find me a constant 
speaker. I will soon be struggling to bring forward 
Irish business." 

He kept his word in both respects. During the 
session he spoke frequently, seldom, indeed, at any 
length, except on the Distress of the Country, on 
23rd March ; when he moved the repeal of the Vestry 
Act of 1827, and when arraigning the conduct of the 
Irish administration, and particularly of the Solicitor- 
General Doherty, in connection with the trials for the 
Doneraile conspiracy, on 12th May ; but there was 
scarcely a debate of any importance to which he did 
not contribute his quota. He presented petitions 
in favour of the abolition of slavery, and one from 
Drogheda for the repeal of the Union, and spoke in 



240 Daniel O' Connell. [1830- 

support of parliamentary reform, law reform, the 
abolition of the game laws, the removal of disabilities 
attaching to the Jews, and in opposition to Dr. 
Phillimore's proposal for rendering divorce easy. 
It is true that he never entirely succeeded in remov- 
ing the prejudices which his reputation as an agitator 
had created, and there was always a tendency in 
certain circles to regard his brogue as a sign of in- 
feriority. But he won the esteem of the House, and 
though at first he found some difficulty in '* catching 
the speaker's eye," he speedily established a reputa- 
tion for dialectical ability, practical good sense, and 
unflagging zeal in the discharge of the hard work 
that fell to his share in committee. There is a story 
told by O'Neill Daunt that, while the Reform Bill 
was under discussion, the speeches of its friends and 
foes were one day canvassed at Lady Beauchamp's. 
On O'Connell's name being mentioned, some critic 
fastidiously said, " Oh, a broguing Irish fellow ! Who 
would listen to him ! I always walk out of the 
House when he opens his lips." "Come, Peel," said 
old Lord Westmoreland, " let me hear your opinion." 
"My opinion candidly is," replied Peel, ** that if I 
wanted an efficient and eloquent advocate, I would 
readily give up all the other orators of whom we 
have been talking, provided I had with me this 
same broguing Irish fellow." 

During the Easter recess O'Connell paid a visit to 
Ireland. He was still bent on seeing what could be 
done for Ireland by the combined effort of Catholics 
and Protestants, and to this end, on 6th April, he 
started a " Society of the Friends of Ireland." The 



1832] Parliamentary Reform and Tithes. 241 

object of the society was to pave the way for the 
repeal of the Union by obHterating ancient animosi- 
ties. But that no one who had the interests of 
Ireland at heart, and to whom repeal seemed either 
unnecessary or undesirable, might be deterred from 
joining it, the subject was only mentioned as one of 
the many grievances to the redress of which the 
efforts of the society were to be directed. As Law- 
less, to whom such stratagems seemed contemptible, 
said, " Mr. O'Connell knows or thinks that ' the 
longest way round is the shortest way home,' and 
accordingly has put that most vitally important 
question . . . the Repeal of the Union — ^ where? 
why as the twenty-first, article in his Litany of 
Evils ! " That Government might interfere to sup- 
press the new society O'Connell thought possible, 
but not at all likely. In any case, as he wrote to 
Richard Barrett, they would have to make an Act 
of Parliament against him individually, by name, if 
they intended to prevent him from '' reconciling 
Irishmen to each other, and combining the great 
majority, if not all of them, for the utility of our 
common but oppressed country." 

What he had deemed unlikely, however, actually 
happened. Hardly had he returned to London 
than the Lord-Lieutenant, the Duke of Northumber- 
land, issued a proclamation suppressing the society. 
The policy of '' thus far and no farther " was evid- 
ently to be rigidly carried out. This was bad ; but it 
was still worse when the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
proposed to assimilate the stamp dues in Ireland to 

those of England, and to raise the excise on spirits. 

16 



242 Daniel O' ConnelL [1830- 

The proposal at once elicited a strong protest from 
O'Connell. But his protest was unheeded, and, see- 
ing the necessity for stronger measures, he advised a 
run on the Bank of Ireland for gold. 

" The time is come," he wrote to his friend Philip 
Barron, '* when Ireland should one and all rouse itself to 
fling off the administration of the Duke of Wellington. 

. . This is the very time to attack his government 
in every legal and constitutional way. . . . Call, 
therefore, on the people — the honest, unsophisticated 
people — to send in their bank notes of every description, 
and to get gold." 

His letter was brought before Parliament. Reply- 
ing to the strictures passed on it, he disclaimed any 
intention of defending his action to the House. He 
would, he declared, say what he liked and do what 
he liked outside it without asking its consent. By 
agitation Ireland had become strong ; by agitation 
she had put down her bitter enemies ; by agitation 
had her conscience been set free ; by agitation had 
Irish freedom been achieved, and by agitation should 
it be secured. The Emancipation Act, it was said, 
had failed to restore tranquillity to Ireland, but whose 
fault had it been ? How, for instance, had Govern- 
ment behaved towards the Catholic Bar ? For him- 
self, he contemned the name of office. He had given 
his advice to his countrymen, and whenever he felt 
it necessary he should continue to do so, careless 
whether it pleased or displeased the House or any 
mad person outside it. The threat proved sufficient. 
On the first of July he was able to announce that the 



1832] Parliamentary Rejorni and Tithes. 243 

stamp duties had been abandoned. The increase on 
spirits remained ; but, as the distillers did not com- 
plain, he thought it unnecessary to throw away '' any 
good agitation " over the matter. 

George IV. died on 26th June, and on 24th July 
Parliament was dissolved. Invitations at once poured 
in upon O'Connell from numerous constituencies — 
from Clare, Drogheda, Wexford, Waterford, Galway, 
Meath, Louth, Cork, Kerry — all alike anxious to 
have him as their representative. It was difficult to 
determine to which he should give the preference ; 
but after hesitating between Wexford and Waterford 
he finally decided in favour of the latter; and for 
Waterford county he was accordingly returned, along 
with Lord George Beresford. The elections over, 
he retired in August to Darrynane, whence he issued 
in rapid succession letter after letter to the Irish 
people on every question of public importance — the 
revolution in France, the insurrection in Belgium, 
parliamentary reform, commutation of tithes, etc., 
but all alike tending to one object — the repeal of 
the Union. 

" I close this, my first letter," he wrote on 6th, Septem- 
ber " by an earnest appeal to the People of Ireland of 
all classes, sects and persuasions, to unite at this most 
important and soul-stirring period in simultaneous efforts 
to restore their native land to her station among the 
nations. Let those efforts be peaceable, legal, con- 
stitutional, open and undisguised ; but let them be 
active and unceasing until Ireland is righted and her 
Parliament restored." 

His letters were widely read, and exercised a 



244 Daniel O'Connell. [1830- 

profound influence on the country. Day by day the 
movement gained in volume and intensity. O'Con- 
nell himself was astonished at the enthusiasm which 
his words had created. Now was the time, he wrote 
to his friend Michael Staunton, of the Register, to 
agitate the great question. The one thing needful 
was a permanent society " in order to collect funds 
in primo loco, to collect funds in secundo loco, and 
to collect funds, thirdly and lastly, because we have 
both mind and body within us, and all we want is the 
means of keeping the machine in regular and supple 
motion." Having settled the subject in his own 
mind, he did not let the grass grow under his feet. 
Few men could have gone through the hard work 
which he undertook. On Thursday, 7th October, 
he attended ''the best public dinner I was ever at," 
in Killarney. On Friday he addressed " a most 
numerous meeting," in the court-house of Tralee, 
*'in honour of the French and Belgic revolutions." 
Next day there was another meeting in the same 
place against the Subletting and Vestry Bills, for 
radical Reform, and Repeal of the Union. On 
Monday he was present, and of course spoke, at a 
dinner at Kanturk ; Tuesday saw him in Cork speak- 
ing at another public dinner; on Wednesday there 
was a mass-meeting in Youghall, on Thursday a 
public dinner in Waterford, followed next day by a 
meeting for redress of grievances. 

Arriving a day or two afterwards in Dublin, he at 
once set about founding a permanent society for the 
propagation of the Repeal agitation. A small pre- 
liminary meeting was to be followed by a larger one 



1832] Parliament my Reform and Tithes. 245 

to sanction the establishment of an " Anti-Union 
Association or Society for Legislative Relief." But 
the project had hardly taken shape when the Govern- 
ment, in the person of the Chief Secretary, Sir Henry 
Hardinge, stepped in and suppressed it. O'Con- 
nell's indignation found vent in an attack on the 
Chief Secretary of a character so personal that the 
latter immediately demanded satisfaction for it. 
But O'Connell, while expressing his perfect readiness 
" to reti'act and atone for any fact alleged by him 
not founded in proof," refused absolutely, " be the 
consequences of such disclaimer what they might," 
to afford him the satisfaction of firing at him. To 
the taunt of cowardice afterwards levelled at him in 
Parliament, he replied, '' I am content. I am vindi- 
cated before my God, and I will not condescend to 
vindicate myself before you." Two days after the 
suppression of the " Anti-Union Association " he 
founded a society called the " Irish Volunteers for 
the Repeal of the Union." This being in turn sup- 
pressed, he started a series of public breakfasts in 
Holmes's Hotel, on Ussher's Quay, at which he and 
his friends drank coffee and talked politics. In re- 
sorting to this stratagem he announced his intention, 
if Government thought fit to proclaim the *' break- 
fasts," of establishing " political luncheons." Should 
these prove distasteful to his grace, the Duke of 
Wellington, he would substitute '' poHtical dinners." 
When these were suppressed, he would invite his 
friends, after the manner of certain ladies, *' for tea 
and tracts," and so on till supper was reached. His 
announcement was received with screams of laughter, 



246 Daniel O^ Connell. [1830- 

and Government, feeling that it was making it- 
self ridiculous, withdrew from the contest. Accord- 
ingly, during his absence in London, the weekly 
meetings in Holmes's Hotel served as a rallying 
centre for the advocates of Repeal. But in Parlia- 
ment, though he presented petitions in favour of the 
repeal of the Union from Waterford and other places, 
the question made little progress, owing to the ab- 
sorbing interest felt in parliamentary reform. 

On i6th November, Wellington, having been de- 
feated on his proposed revision of the Civil List, in 
consequence of the declaration against reform, re- 
signed office, and was succeeded by Earl Grey. The 
Irish, who had contributed materially to this result, 
were rewarded by the re-appointment of the Marquis 
of Anglesey as Viceroy. But the pleasing anticipa- 
tions with which his appointment were at first hailed 
were speedily damped when it was found that his 
Chief Secretary was to be Edward Stanley, after- 
wards Earl of Derby, of whose doubtful radicalism 
the electors of Preston had recently expressed their 
disapprobation by preferring *' Orator " Hunt as 
their representative in Parliament. '* I fear," O'Con- 
nell wrote on 29th November, "■ that the Marquis of 
Anglesey is getting into bad hands. The only good 
thing about him is his determination, which is fixed, 
to pack off the Gregorys, etc., from the Castle." Un- 
fortunately, even this little scrap of consolation had 
before long to be abandoned. The fact was that 
Anglesey, like many other politicians, had come to 
the conclusion that the concession of emancipation 
had or ought to have satisfied Ireland. AH that she, 



1832] Parliamentary Reform and Tithes. 247 

in his opinion, wanted was peace. Agitation was 
the only thing that could prevent her prospering, and 
for himself he was resolved to put down agitation 
with a strong hand. There was something of ostrich- 
like stupidity in the view he took of the situation. 
Instead of frankly admitting that emancipation, as 
interpreted by the Irish government, had failed to 
satisfy a single person, and trying in statesmanlike 
fashion to solve the new problem that had arisen, by 
giving practical effect to it, he contented himself 
with crying Peace, peace, when there was really no 
peace, unmindful of the fact that no agitator, how- 
ever powerful, can create an agitation out of nothing, 
and that even your Hyde Park orator, who each 
Sunday harrangues his little knot of listeners, has his 
raisott d'etre. " Things have come to that pass," 
he wrote to his wife, "that the question is whether 
O'Connell or I shall govern Ireland." It was com- 
placently said ; for of his ability to put O'Connell 
down he made little question. 

But before resorting to measures of repression, he 
determined to make an appeal to those motives of 
self-interest by which O'Connell was supposed to 
regulate his conduct, offering to make him a judge, 
or " anything, in fact, if he would give up the agita- 
tion." " Lord Anglesey," O'Connell wrote to his 
friend, Newton Bennett, '' sent for me and talked to 
me for two hours, to prevail on me to join the Gov- 
ernment ; he went so far as to discuss my private 
affairs in order to prevail on me to repair my 
fortunes ! " His Lordship recorded the result of 
the interview next day to Lord Cloncurry : 



248 Daniel O' Cojtnell. [1830- 

" O'Connell is my avant cowier. He starts to-day 
with more mischief in hand than I have yet seen him 
charged with. I saw him yesterday for an hour and a 
half. I made no impression on him whatever ; and I 
am now thoroughly convinced that he is bent upon des- 
perate agitation. All this will produce no change in 
my course and conduct. ... I deprecate agita- 
tion. ... I pray for peace and repose. But if the 
sword is really to be drawn, ... if, for the pro- 
tection of the State, I am driven to the dire necessity of 
again turning soldier, why then I must endeavour to get 
back into old habits, and live amongst a people I love in 
a state of misery and distress." 

" Poor Anglesey ! " O'Connell one day remarked to 
Purcell O'Gorman ; " the unfortunate man was not 
wicked, but misguided." " Why," replied O'Gorman, 
" that is exactly what he says of you. One day I 
visited him he said to me, 'That unfortunate O'Con- 
nell means well, but he is misguided.' " It was not 
long before the two came into collision. 

Returning to Ireland on i8th December, O'Con- 
nell received another tremendous ovation. The 
welcome accorded to him contrasted strangely with 
the chilling reception meted out to Anglesey, when 
he landed a week later at Kingstown. People, re- 
membering how he had advocated emancipation, 
had intended to greet him in another fashion ; but 
his refusal or inability to remove the " old warriors " 
from the Castle, and the appointment of "Dirty 
Doherty " as Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, 
had deprived him of the popularity he had acquired 
during his first viceroyalty. But he was, or affected 



1832] Parliamentary Reform a7td Tithes. 249 

to be, little moved by this display of hostile feeling 
towards him. He had come over determined to 
suppress agitation, even if he went the length of 
clapping the arch-agitator himself in prison. The 
day following his arrival, Sunday, the 26th, he pro- 
claimed a meeting of the ''Tradesmen of Dublin," 
which was to have been held next day at Phibs- 
borough, as calculated to lead to a disturbance of 
the public peace. The proclamation was hardly an 
hour old when O'Connell issued another, in his own 
name, countermanding the meeting. Government, 
at any rate, was not to have the credit alone of pre- 
serving the public peace. The proclamation of the 
Trades meeting was followed up by a general order 
to all magistrates to suppress all meetings, where- 
soever held, for the purpose of effecting political 
changes by forcible means. As the magistrates 
were to a man anti-repealers, the interpretation they 
were likely to place on the qualifying words, " forci- 
ble means," practically amounted to a suppression 
of the right of public meeting. At a breakfast in 
Holmes's Hotel, at which some 450 persons were 
present, O'Connell roundly denounced the order as 
an illegal interference with the right of petitioning, 
and at his suggestion a society was immediately 
formed, calling itself '' A General Association for 
Ireland to prevent illegal meetings and protect the 
exercise of the sacred right of petition." 

The society met for the first time on 6th January, 
183 1, in the Parliamentary Intelligence Offices, 
in Stephen's Street. It was at once proclaimed. 
Thereupon O'Connell announced his intention of 



250 Daniel 0' Connell. [1830- 

constituting himself a society, and carrying on the 
work of agitation, with the assistance of the press and 
Edward Dwyer, the former secretary of the CathoHc 
Association. At his invitation, three hundred per- 
sons assembled to dine at Hayes's tavern. He was 
engaged in addressing them when two police mag- 
istrates entered the room and ordered them to 
disperse. After a somewhat heated discussion, 
O'Connell advised compliance with the order, which, 
though illegal, nevertheless bore the appearance of 
law, and the meeting, after cheering lustily for ** Re- 
peal," quietly separated. The dispersal of the 
dinner at Hayes's was followed by a proclamation 
prohibiting all and every kind of association what- 
ever. It was a strong step, and O'Connell that same 
night sent to the press a letter blazing with indigna- 
tion. He had, he wrote, one word of caution to 
address to his fellow-countrymen in regard to this 
fourth proclamation. Its object was to gag the 
Irish people. Some time ago, he had advised every- 
body to exchange his notes for gold. The time 
might come to put his advice in practice. He called 
upon them for the present to pause. Let them 
watch the motives of the vile underlings of despotic 
authority. Let them wait patiently until they saw 
whether the press was to be assailed. Until then 
he would remain neutral. But should the press be 
assailed ; should prosecution extend to this, their 
last hope of freedom, then he would use all the 
energies of his mind, and whatever influence he 
possessed, to lessen the power of the paper-makers 
and to produce a general gold currency. He 



1832] Parliamentary Reform and Tithes, 251 

concluded with again cautioning them against secret 
societies, against illegal oaths, and against every 
every species of tumult, violence, or outrage. The 
repeal of the Union could not long be delayed by 
their enemies : it might be fatally retarded by their 
own misconduct. A day or two afterwards, there 
was a Repeal meeting in St. Thomas's parish. 
O'Connell appeared in deep mourning. He was 
determined, he said, to wear it until the obnoxious 
Act under which their associations were proclaimed 
was repealed. Nay, more : he had resolved not to 
taste any excisable article until that event took 
place. That very morning, when tea and coffee had 
been placed before him, he had put them aside and 
contented himself with milk. 

Meeting next morning, i8th January, with a few 
friends at Hayes's tavern for breakfast, he was, on 
returning home, arrested on a warrant charging him 
with conspiracy with several other persons to violate 
and evade the proclamation. Being taken to the 
head Police Office, he was required to give bail, him- 
self in ;£" 1000, and two securities each in ^^500: his 
associates, Lawless, Steele, Barrett, Dwyer, Rey- 
nolds, Redmond, and Clooney, being at the same 
time bound over in ;^200, and two securities each in 
ii"ioo, to appear when called upon for trial. When 
the news of the arrest became known, Dublin was 
thrown into a state of wild excitement. '' I never," 
wrote O'Mara to Lord Cloncurry, ** witnessed any- 
thing so turbulent and angry as the populace were 
in Dublin this day — not even in the height of '98." 
Indeed, Government had to thank O'Connell, who 



252 Daniel 0'Co7tnelL [I830- 

took the earliest opportunity of enforcing obedience 
on the people, that a serious riot did not take place. 
The indictment consisted of thirty-one counts — the 
first fourteen charging the traversers with having 
violated the provisions of the Act 10, George IV., 
better known as " the worse than Algerine Act " ; 
the remaining seventeen with fraud and duplicity 
against Government. True bills were returned by 
the grand jury on 25th January, and the trial was 
fixed for 17th February. 

As O'Connell's conduct exposed him at the time 
to much adverse criticism, which certain historians 
and biographers have since endorsed, it will help to 
a better understanding of it if one or two facts are 
clearly borne in mind. First, that the Irish govern- 
ment was solely responsible for the prosecution ; 
second, that the Grey administration was piedged 
to Reform, and, being particularly weak in debating 
power in the House of Commons, could ill afford to 
lose O'Connell's support ; third, that '' the worse 
than Algerine Act " was a temporary device, bound 
to expire with the expiration of the Parliament that 
had created it. The conditions for a compromise 
existed. The Whigs wanted O'Connell's assistance 
in the House of Commons ; he wanted to avoid a 
trial, which he calculated would last a week, which 
might be attended by public disturbances, and fol- 
lowed by pecuniary or corporal punishment for him- 
self. It was said he was afraid to go to gaol. His 
action could bear that construction ; the motive, 
however, was not fear, but the desire to inflict a 
defeat on Anglesey's government by rendering the 



1832] Parliamentary Reform and Tithes. 253 

prosecution abortive — a very different matter. It 
was a game in which neither he nor the administra- 
tion could afford to show their cards openly. Hence 
the conflicting rumours that gained currency of de- 
feat on the part of O'Connell ; of retreat on the 
part of Government. Hence, too, the confident as- 
sertions of Stanley, in the House of Commons, 
that Government had no intention of compromis- 
ing the prosecution, while all the time a tacit com- 
promise, of which Stanley was ignorant, actually 
existed. 

The course of events was as follows: on i8th 
January O'Connell was arrested ; next week the grand 
jury returned a true bill against him, whereupon he 
demurred to the first fourteen counts in the indict- 
ment, charging him with a breach of *' the worse 
than Algerine Act," and pleaded not guilty to the 
remaining seventeen, charging him with conspiracy 
under the Common Law. The demurrers were fixed 
to be heard on 7th February. In the midst of the 
proceedings, and while the public mind was vio- 
lently excited, a communication reached O'Connell, 
through one *' in the confidence of the ministry in 
England," that the latter were ready to do every- 
thing for Ireland short of Repeal " provided he 
would ^"^VQ. up the question for the present." 
O'Connell, to whom a bird in the hand was always 
worth more than two in the bush, thereupon ap- 
pealed to Lords Meath and Cloncurry, who ** have 
it in their power to put themselves at the head of 
the popular party in Ireland, and to do more good 
to the country, and prevent more evil, than any two 



254 Daniel O' Connell. [1830- 

persons ever had before," offering to assist Govern- 
ment in allaying the popular ferment if they would 
pledge themselves to the future support of Repeal. 
This they, however, refused to do. Thereupon 
O'Connell announced his attention of setting out for 
London on 31st January, and accordingly on that 
day he proceeded, accompanied by an immense con- 
course of well-wishers, bearing banners with " Re- 
peal of the Union," " Erin go bragh," '' Hail to the 
Liberator," and other patriotic mottoes on them, 
from his house in Merrion Square to Kingstown. 

It was a stormy day and, as he neared the pier, 
snow, long known as '* the O'Connell snow," began 
to fall heavily. Darkness set in, and everybody, 
except a few of his more intimate friends, believing 
that he had embarked, returned as quickly as pos- 
sible to their several homes. Anglesey, thinking he 
had scored another point, wrote : 

*' O'Connell embarked for England this afternoon, 
not venturing to await the judgment of the court upon 
his pleas. By this he forfeits his recognizances, him- 
self in ^1000, and his securities in ^£"500 each, or, if 
he returns, there is no doubt he will be committed." 

As a matter of fact, while he was writing, O'Con- 
nell was quietly toasting his toes by his own fireside. 
He had received information that he was to be 
called up next day for trial. On 5th February, he 
asked leave to withdraw his demurrers, and plead 
'* not guilty " to the whole indictment. Government, 
anxious not to prolong the case, granted his applica- 
tion. Time pressed, and he was desirous of being in 
his place in the House. On nth February he 



1832] Parliamentary Reform a^td Tithes. 255 

applied personally to the Attorney-General to allow 
the trial to stand over till Easter term, '' provided 
there be nothing in such postponement inconsistent 
with your views of the interests of the Crown and 
the public." The Attorney-General replied that he 
could not suspend the trial, and was congratulated 
by Stanley on having got the arch-agitator on the 
hip. O'Connell thereupon offered to let judgment 
go against him by default on the first fourteen 
counts, on condition that the Attorney-General with- 
drew the remaining counts charging him with con- 
spiracy, and consented to postpone judgment till the 
first day of Easter term. In other words he agreed, 
on condition of not forfeiting his recognisances, and 
being allowed to advocate Reform in the House of 
Commons, to admit that he had incurred the penal- 
ties due to the breach of " the worse than Algerine 
Act." The Attorney-General assented to the ar- 
rangement, and Government congratulated itself 
upon the easy victory it had won. Before three 
months had elapsed, it was patent to the blindest 
intelligence that the victory was in reality a crush- 
ing defeat, and that O'Connell had out-manoeuvred 
Blackburne on his own ground. 

On the day originally appointed for the trial, 17th 
February, O'Connell arrived in London. On the 
28th there was a brisk exchange of arms between 
him and Stanley, who, in the exuberance of his 
triumph, had given out that the former, fearing con- 
viction, had solicited a compromise of the prosecu- 
tion. This O'Connell roundly denied. No friend 
of his, he declared, had, with any authority from 



256 Daniel O' Connell. [1830- 

him, or to his knowledge, ever made any such appH- 
cation ; but he thought it right to say that persons 
who represented themselves as authorised by the 
Crown had made overtures to him, and that he had 
written back refusing to accede to the terms. Prob- 
ably no one was more surprised at this revelation of 
a secret intrigue than Stanley himself. Next day, 
Lord John Russell submitted the Reform Bill to the 
House of Commons. On 8th March, O'Connell 
rose to support the measure. *' Giving his wig a 
twitch lest he should lose it," says an onlooker, he 
spoke for three hours, explaining that while the Bill 
fell far short of his own wishes in regard to universal 
suffrage, vote by ballot and short parliaments, it was 
nevertheless a liberal and extensive measure, and 
as such would receive his unqualified support. The 
fact was, he had come to regard Reform as an indis- 
pensable step to Repeal, believing, like so many of 
his contemporaries, that extension of the franchise, 
and destruction of rotten boroughs, necessarily im- 
plied greater liberality on the part of the Legislature. 
He was soon to discover that Hodge and his mas- 
ter were pretty much of one opinion as regarded 
Ireland. Easter arrived, but his presence in London 
was more than ever necessary to the ministry, and, 
with the consent of the Attorney-General for Ireland, 
judgment was postponed till May. On 22nd April, 
however, ministers having been defeated on a clause 
of the Bill, dissolved Parliament. With the dissolu- 
tion '' the worse than Algerine Act " expired, and 
O'Connell was once more a free man. 

Returning to Ireland, he threw himself, heart and 



1832] Parliame7itary Reform and Tithes. 257 

soul, into electioneering business. The cry that re- 
sounded throughout England of " the bill, the whole 
bill and nothing but the bill " found through him an 
echo also in Ireland. People of the stamp of George 
Ensor said that in his enthusiasm for Reform he had 
forgotten all about Repeal. It was not so. 

" Let no one," he wrote in a " Letter to the People of 
Ireland," " deceive you, and say I am abandoning my 
principles of anti-unionism. It is false. I am decidedly 
of opinion that the repeal of the union is the only meas- 
ure by which Irish prosperity and Irish freedom can be 
secured. . . . But it is only in a reformed parlia- 
ment that the question can be properly, coolly, and dis- 
passionately discussed." 

The result of the elections in Ireland strengthened 
the hands of the Reformers. O'Connell himself 
was returned for county Kerry, in the room of the 
Knight of Kerry, and the opening day of the new 
parliament, 12th June, saw him in his customary seat 
in the House of Commons. 

But Reform, though it still continued to hold the 
first place in his consideration, was not the only, or 
indeed the most pressing, subject that occupied his 
attention. Distress, always chronic in Ireland, had 
again been intensified by the recurrence of a bad 
harvest. During the winter of 1830-31 there had been 
local outbursts of agrarian crime, attended by a gen- 
eral indisposition to pay tithes. In March Bishop 
Doyle published a " Letter," which in fact amounted 
to a substantial pamphlet of 133 pages, "on the 
establishment of a legal provision for the Irish poor; 
and on the origin, nature, and destination of Church 



258 Daniel O' Co7tnell. [1830- 

property." The desirability of establishing a system 
of poor-law relief in Ireland was one which sat very 
near the Bishop's heart, but on this point he had 
hitherto had the misfortune to differ from O'Connell, 
who, in his examination before the Committee of the 
House of Commons, in 1825, had denounced the pro- 
ject as tending to pauperise and demoralise the 
nation. It was, therefore, an agreeable surprise for 
the Bishop to receive from him a letter beginning — 

" My Lord, you have convinced me — Your pamphlet 
on the necessity of making a legal provision for the 
destitute Irish poor has completely convinced me. The 
candour and distinctness with which you state the 
arguments against that provision, and the clear and 
satisfactory manner in which you have answered and 
refuted those arguments, have quite overpowered my ob- 
jections, and rendered me an unwilling, but not the less 
sincere, convert to your opinions." 

In his '' Letter " Doyle had suggested the abolition 
of tithes and the substitution for it of a land tax not 
exceeding one-tenth of the value of the land. The 
produce of this tax and the Church lands, placed at 
the disposal of the Parliamentary Commissioners, 
would enable them to provide amply for the support 
of the poor, and to promote works of public necessity 
or national improvement. O'Connell adopted his 
suggestion, with certain modifications. 

"We must," he wrote, '* come forward at once. The 
people must be fed. The tithes do certainly afford a 
great and natural resource, or rather a crown rent. As a 
national commutation of tithes, less, much less, than the 
tenth of the fair rent-roll will be abundantly sufficient ; 



1832] Parliamentary Reforin and Tithes. 259 

in fact, the one-half of the actual weight of the tithes. 
Next, the estates of the absentees should bear a double 
proportion of this crown rent, or land tax. Indeed, a 
treble proportion would be but strict justice." 

Parliament had hardly met before the necessity of 
tithe legislation, in some shape or form, became ap- 
parent. In June, resistance to the payment of tithes 
led to an armed conflict between the peasantry and 
yeomanry at Newtownbarry, in county Wexford, 
when eighteen persons lost their lives, and many 
more were wounded. The " massacre " made a deep 
impression on the popular mind, and the sorrow 
and indignation it awakened found expression in 
verse which, if crude in form, was pregnant enough 
with passion : 

" The balls of the yeomanry flew far and wide. 
The maidens plunged, shrieking, in Slaney's red tide, 
And the blood of the peasantry gush'd o'er the turf, 
As their lips foamed in death, like the rock-beating 
surf. 

" And there lay the mother, distorted and pale — 
Yet her butchers were praised by the Warder and 

Mail ; 
For our judges are silent, and justice unknown. 
Though the dark tale of carnage o'er Europe hath 

flown. 

" And the widows of Wexford are loud in their wail. 
And curse the proud priesthood of Mammon and 

Baal : 
For the poor and the guiltless by bigotry's sword 
Were murdered for tithe — in the name of the Lord." 



26o Daniel O' ConnelL [1830- 

" The Newtownbarry affair," wrote Bishop Doyle, a 
week or two after the sad event, *' was a certain, if not 
necessary, effect of the proceedings of Government with 
respect to the magistracy, the constabulary, and yeomen. 
Last Christmas, when Mr. O'Connell was forcing Gov- 
ernment to adopt strong measures, you recollect how I 

besought Mr. Stanley and the friends of Lord D 

to send here a few regiments of the English militia, if 
necessary, to strengthen the military, and not to call out 
the Orange party in the person of the yeomanry. But 
at that time they feared O'Connell over much, and pre- 
cipitated themselves into new difficulties of greater and 
more lasting magnitude. They made themselves the 
debtors of a party with whom they should have no con- 
nexion, and thereby committed themselves to sustain old 
abuses, to oppose the just wishes of the people and of 
the enlightened public, and here they are now, pampered 
with a magistracy as ignorant and corrupt as can well be 
conceived, and which they fear too much ; with a con- 
stabulary and yeomanry all Orange, who hate the gov- 
ernment with all their heart and soul, and take their 
instructions more from Lord Farnham and his associ- 
ates than from Lord Anglesey or his colleagues in 
office. These armed banditti, urged by their leaders, 
are at this moment using every possible exertion to ex- 
cite the people to insurrection, thereby to defeat the 
Ministry and Reform ; whilst the mass of the people 
have resigned all confidence in Government, as if 
leagued with their inveterate foes, and are at this mo- 
ment more liable to be led astray than they were at any 
period these ten years past, if some Mr, O'Connell ap- 
peared to merely give a direction to their passions. 
This is the real state of Ireland now, so far as the ad- 
ministration of its affairs and the temper of the people 



1832] Parliame7it'aiy Reform and Tithes. 261 

compose its state ; and I need not add that order can 
never arise out of such a state of things. As to trusting 
to the ordinary course of law for redress of wrongs, etc., 
it is a weakness approaching to fatuity. There is not a 
sheriff in Ireland who is not too strong for the judges of 
assize. Even the assistant barristers cannot do justice 
in the smallest things where party-spirit enters ; nor are 
they all inclined to act justly ; and as for the magis- 
trates, their corruption, like the wisdom of Solomon, 
surpasses all that has been told of it. I assure you that 
even in this country it is quite shocking." 

The Irish government answered the refusal to pay 
tithes with the threat of an Arms Bill, which would 
have delivered over the Irish peasantry, bound hand 
and foot, to the tender mercies of the Orangemen. 
The proposal, however, met with a cool reception in 
Parliament, and O'Connell had little difficulty in 
knocking it on the head. But he failed to persuade 
the House to consent to disarm the yeomanry, and 
was unsuccessful in obtaining any material alteration 
in the Irish Reform Bill. In September his health 
broke down, and for three weeks his attendance in 
the House was restricted to an hour or two daily. 
He, however, supported Lord Ebrington's motion of 
confidence in the ministry on loth October, and the 
latter having trouble enough on hand in England 
tried to sound him, through Sir Henry Parnell and 
Bishop Doyle, as to the possibility of inducing him 
to refrain from renewing his agitation of Repeal. 
His popularity in Ireland was at its zenith. He 
could, the Bishop asserted, have little difficulty in 
getting twenty or thirty thousand pounds from the 



262 Daniel O ' Connell. 



[1830- 



country, and it was doubtful if he would surrender 
popularity and emolument for anything ministers 
could offer him. But if O'Connell refused to im- 
pair his popularity by countenancing a rumour — 
apparently well-founded — that the attorney-general- 
ship of Ireland was at his disposal, he did not de- 
cline what was due to him as a lawyer, and accepted 
a patent of precedence at the Irish Bar ofTered to 
him through Lord Duncannon. Believing, too, in 
the sincerity of the promises that the ministry were 
willing to try " a change of system " in the govern- 
ment of Ireland, even to the extent of '' promoting 
off " Anglesey and Stanley, he agreed to confine 
himself to Reform until the Bill was carried. At 
the same time, however, he pointed out that the 
state of affairs might be rendered worse than pre- 
carious unless the promised change of system com- 
menced immediately. The past might easily be 
buried in oblivion if means were taken to satisfy the 
people of Ireland that some practical good might be 
expected. But if it was imagined safe to delay giv- 
ing proofs of a change, he could only assure those 
who thought so that they would find themselves 
sadly mistaken. 

Two months elapsed. Anglesey and Stanley still 
continued at their posts, and not the slightest sign of 
a change of system had been given. Meanwhile, the 
state of affairs had grown worse. True, there was 
nothing in Ireland to compare with the riots that 
were taking place at the same time in England ; but 
the tithe difficulty remained, and at Carrickshock, in 
county Kilkenny, there had recently been another 



1832] Parliavte7ita7y Reform and Tithes. 263 

collision between the peasantry and the process 
servers, in which eighteen of the latter had been 
killed. The distress of the country was appalling. 
"Ireland," O'Connell wrote bitterly to Lord Dun- 
cannon in December, ** is sinking into decrepitude. 
In Cork, in three parishes alone there are 27,000 
paupers." The misery and the wretchedness of the 
people — famine-stricken, misgoverned, harassed by 
Orangemen and tithe-proctors, and trembling at 
the approach of a new and deadly disease, the 
cholera, — preyed upon him day and night. If only 
he could induce Irishmen of all sects and persua- 
sions to unite for the common good of their country ! 
Nothing, nothing, he felt, could be done until they 
had recovered the management of their own affairs. 
People talked to him of poor laws. The arguments 
and eloquence of Bishop Doyle had wrung a reluc- 
tant acquiescence in their necessity from him. But 
after all, what was the good of poor-law relief ? The 
real grievance lay elsewhere, and so long as Ireland 
groaned under the incubus of the Union, so long as 
good government was denied it, how could any pro- 
gress be made ? Would poor laws help to develop 
the country, make Irishmen more self-reliant and 
more independent? Would they prevent these con- 
stantly recurring periods of famine and distress, 
ward off the cholera, or secure to the labourer the 
just fruits of his labour? It was not charity Irish- 
men wanted, but good government. Ireland was 
big enough and capable enough to support her eight 
millions of inhabitants. The weak, the aged, the 
infirm, the widow, and the orphan, they would always 



264 Daniel O' Connell. [1830- 

have with them ; for these provision could be made. 
But a nation with the resources of a country Hke 
Ireland does not want alms. A poor law ! Yes. 
But a poor law for the whole nation — the restora- 
tion of her domestic legislature — that was what 
was wanted. 

His renunciation of the poor laws brought him 
into open conflict with Bishop Doyle. But he had 
made up his mind, and neither the sarcasm nor the 
logic of his adversary could move him. He would 
make another effort to unite Irishmen on a common 
platform : he would demand justice in the shape of 
good government from a Reformed Parliament, and 
if it was refused he would raise the standard of 
Repeal. Availing himself, accordingly, of a sugges- 
tion made by Henry Grattan, junior, he started a 
National Political Union, for placing Ireland upon 
a basis of equality of franchise and privilege with 
England. The society served the double purpose 
of furnishing a counterpoise to the Trades Political 
Union, which under its president, Marcus Costello, 
went at times too quick, at other times too slow, for 
him, and of providing him with a means of keeping 
in touch with the nation. 

Parliament met on 6th December. The third 
Reform Bill was read in the Commons, a second 
time, and committees of both Houses were appointed 
to inquire into the tithe laws. It reassembled after 
the Christmas vacation on 17th January, 1832. On 
8th February O'Connell presented a petition from 
Waterford complaining of the tithe system. Gov- 
ernment expressed its determination to enforce the 



1832] Parliainenta7^y Refomn and Tithes. 265 

law ; but the statement was somewhat mitigated by 
the appearance, a few days afterwards, of the reports 
of both Houses pointing to a complete extinction of 
tithes, in the interests of the Church, and the lasting 
welfare of Ireland. '' The tithes," O'Connell wrote 
to Fitzpatrick on nth February, "are given up. 
Depend on this." The announcement proved some- 
what premature. In March he returned to Ireland, 
being specially retained at the Cork Spring Assizes, 
in the case of Kearney v. Sarsfield to try the validity 
of the will of Thomas Rochford. His arrival in Cork 
was made the occasion of a great Repeal demonstra- 
tion. The enthusiasm of the people delighted him. 
" There never was," he wrote, '' such a scene as we 
had yesterday. It is impossible to form an idea of 
it without having been a spectator. It beat all the 
processions I ever witnessed all to nothing. It is 
decisive of Repeal." During his absence, Stanley 
introduced a Bill to enforce the recovery of tithe 
arrears. It speedily became law ; but proved, as 
was predicted of it, worse than useless, and later in 
the session the composition of tithes was made 
universal and compulsory. But all interest in the 
proceedings of Parliament had by that time expired. 
Its days were numbered. On 7th June, the royal 
assent had been given by commission to the Reform 
Bill, and Parliament, having been prorogued on 16th 
August, was formally dissolved on 3rd December. 
Men's thoughts were fixed on the future. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE WHIGS AND COERCION. 
1832-1835. 

O'CONNELL returned to Ireland towards the 
latter end of July. He had for some time 
been feeling far from well, and suffered much 
from sleeplessness ; but the bracing air of Darrynane 
soon restored him to his usual state of buoyant 
health. 

"You will be happy to hear," he wrote on nth Aug- 
ust to his friend Fitzpatrick, " that my health is — blessed 
be God ! — quite restored. There never was so great a 
change in the tone of animal functions in any man within 
so short a period. I enjoy my mountain hunting on foot 
as much as ever I did, and expect, with the help of God, 
to be quite prepared for as vigorous a winter campaign 
as ever I carried on. It is quite necessary," 

Of the necessity, indeed, of doing something to 
put an end to the terrible tithe war, that was rag- 
ing with unabated fury, there could not be the 
slightest question. But how was this to be done ? 

266 



[1832-1835] The Whigs and Coercion. 267 

The committees of both Houses appointed to in- 
quire into the matter had suggested the complete 
extinction of tithes as the only solution likely to sat- 
isfy the Irish peasantry. The Irish government, far 
from adopting the suggestion, determined to enforce 
the payment of them. They succeeded in collect- 
ing ^12,000 of arrears, at a cost of ;^ 14,000 and con- 
siderable loss of life. Driven from this position, 
they passed a compulsory tithe composition bill, as 
if it was the mode in which the clergy of the Estab- 
lished Church were to be paid, and not the payment 
itself, that had revolted the people. O'Connell 
advised their extinction, and the compensation of 
existing Protestant incumbents. His advice was de- 
spised, notwithstanding a pointed allusion to Lord 
Milton's refusal to pay taxes till the Reform Bill 
was passed. The difficulty continuing, he addressed 
a letter to the National Political Union on the sub- 
ject. The letter concluded : 

" First, I am determined never again voluntarily to 
pay tithes ; second, I am determined never again volun- 
tarily to pay vestry cess ; third, I am determined never 
to buy one single article sold for tithes or vestry cess. 
Such are my three individual resolutions ; let every other 
man act as he pleases. I have made up my mind to this 
course. I will not oppose the law: let it take its course ; 
but I decline paying to or buying from tithe proctors." 

The doctrine of passive resistance, thus clearly 
enunciated, found plenty of adherents. As time 
went on, the struggle between the Government and 
the peasantry became more and more acute. Coer- 
cion, instead of curing the disease, merely drove it 



268 Daniel O' Council. [1832- 

inwards. Tithe prosecutions multiplied ; so did 
agrarian outrages. The refusal to abolish tithes had 
resulted in a revival of " Whiteboyism," and for this 
result the Irish government must be held responsible. 
Meanwhile, from his retreat at Darrynane, O'Con- 
nell threw off letter after letter — thirty in all — 
denouncing the government of Anglesey and Stan- 
ley, demanding the abolition of tithes, and preach- 
ing the repeal of the Union as the only adequate 
remedy for Irish grievances. In October he was 
specially retained at the Cork Assizes, in connection 
with certain trials arising out of the agrarian dis- 
pute, and it was not until the following month that 
he was able to repair to Dublin in order to take part in 
the impending electoral struggle. His popularity was 
unbounded. As he walked through the streets, people 
rushed to their doors to have a better look at him, 
or followed him in little knots at a respectful dis- 
tance. Later in the month, he made a rousing 
speech at the Political Union, urging the electors 
everywhere to exact a repeal pledge from their can- 
didates. His advice was followed to the very letter. 
No matter who the candidate, no matter what his 
claims, he was instantly rejected if he refused the 
pledge. The fact naturally detracted from the indi- 
vidual importance of those composing " O'Connell's 
tail," as his followers were half-humorously, half- 
sneeringly nicknamed, but at least it promised to 
ensure fidelity on the main point. Of the hundred 
and five members allotted to Ireland, eighty-five 
were returned in the Liberal interest, and of these 
eighty-five more than half were pledged Repealers. 




AN EXTRAORDINARY ANIMAL. 

FROM A PRINT IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



1835] The Whigs and Coei^cion. 269 

Five were members of O'Connell's own family — the 
^' Household Brigade," as they were called ; com- 
prising his three sons, Maurice, Morgan, and John, 
and his two sons-in-law, Christopher Fitzsimon, and 
Charles O'Connell, of Bahoss. His own unsolicited 
return for Dublin City he regarded " as perhaps the 
greatest triumph my countrymen have yet given me." 
Parliament did not meet till 5th February, 1833. 
The condition of the country, in the meantime, was 
appalling. During the past twelve months, not less 
than nine thousand agrarian outrages, of which two 
hundred were homicides, had occurred. In several 
counties, in Kilkenny and Queen's county especially, 
the authority of the law had practically ceased to 
exist. Jurors would not convict, murders were rife, 
and intimidation almost universal. Even O'Connell, 
while insisting on the immediate removal of Angle- 
sey and Stanley as the only means of restoring pub- 
lic confidence, had sadly to admit, and even to urge, 
the necessity of exceptional measures being taken. 

" My Lord," he wrote to Lord Duncannon on 14th 
January, "you are the only person connected with power 
to whom I could write what I know and what 1 believe, 
and indeed, I should not feel at rest if I did not tell you 
that the Government cannot appreciate the exact state of 
this country. Stanley has had considerable success in 
enforcing the Tithes. He has overawed many, very 
many parishes, and there was an adequate force for that 
purpose ; but the result is just what those who know Ire- 
land foresaw — the spirit which is curbed by day walks 
abroad by night. * Whiteboyism ' is substituted for open 
meetings. There is an abnost universal organisation 



270 Dmiiel O' Connell. [1832- 

going on. It is, I repeat, almost universal. I do not believe 
there is any man in the rank of a comfortable farmer en- 
gaged — not one man probably entitled to vote. But all 
the poverty of our counties is being organised. There 
never yet was, as I believe, so general a disposition for 
that species of insurrectionary outrages. We will do all 
we can to check it. I believe that we will keep the 
county of Meath free, because we have a County Club in 
operation — persons in whom the people have confidence, 
and whose advice they will be likely to follow. You may 
be quite sure that, if I were not convinced of the fright- 
ful extent of the impending mischief, I would not trouble 
you. All I can add in the way of advice is — that the more 
troops are sent over here the better. In every point of 
view, it is best to increase the King's troops. If the Yeo- 
manry are called out, the consequences may be terrific. 
Avoid that, of all things ; they will prove to be weakness, 
not strength. I know you will excuse me for my cause 
in troubling you at this length. But, indeed, you, who 
are acquainted with the history of Irish affairs, must 
have been prepared for this result. The insanity of de- 
livering the country to so weak a man as Lord Anglesey, 
and so obstinate a maniac as Stanley, is unequalled, even 
in our annals." 

Early in the forenoon of Tuesday, 5th February, 
O'Connell, at the head of his " Household Brigade," 
went down to the House of Commons, to be present 
at the opening of the first reformed Parliament. 
Taking his seat on the second opposition bench, 
he ranged his sons alongside him — a mark of 
parental pride the young men would gladly have 
avoided. His hopes beat high. The wrongs of Ire- 
land called to Heaven for redress. Surely the ministry, 



1835] The Whigs and Coercion. 271 

which owed its very existence to the votes of the 
Irish members, would seize the opportunity to heal 
the breach which misgovernment had made in the 
past by the introduction of remedial measures. An 
hour or two served to dispel the fond illusion. The 
Speech from the Throne, after alluding to the social 
condition of Ireland, where the " spirit of insubordin- 
ation and violence " had '' risen to the most fearful 
height," expressed the King's confidence in the readi- 
ness of Parliament '' to adopt such measures of salu- 
tary precaution," and to entrust him with '* such 
additional powers as may be found necessary for 
controlling and punishing the disturbers of the public 
peace, and for preserving the legislative union be- 
tween the two countries." O'Connell's indignation 
at the baseness of the Whigs was intense. Lord Or- 
melie, afterwards Marquis of Breadalbane, in moving 
the Address, had the misfortune to add fuel to his 
wrath by an unlucky comparison between him and 
his fellow-Repealers, and "" those harpies, or birds 
of prey, who soared over and watched the agonies of 
their victim, ready to pierce their destructive talons 
into its side." " What a curse was it for Ireland," 
O'Connell bitterly exclaimed, *' that every popinjay 
you met in the streets, who was capable of uttering 
fifteen words, was sure to lard his sentences by sar- 
casms against Ireland ! " But it was for Stanley — 
the real author of "' the brutal and bloody speech " — 
that he reserved the vials of his wrath — for that 
minister, who, during his brief tenure of office, had 
accomplished what none of his predecessors had ever 
done, and united Irishmen in a consensus of opinion 



272 Daniel O' Council. [1832- 

as to his incapacity to govern the country; who, never- 
theless, " lord of the ascendant," dictated his measures 
to the ministry. Four long nights the battle raged, 
and then came the division. O'Connell moved to 
refer the Address to a committee of the whole 
House ; he was defeated by 428 votes to 40. A 
motion to couple coercion with '' a close and diligent 
investigation into the causes of discontent in Ire- 
land " shared a similar fate, and was defeated by 393 
votes to 60. 

Alas, for Ireland ! Alas for the hopes which 
Reform had raised ! People with a turn for epigram 
called the Government's policy a policy of "kicks and 
kindness." Unfortunately, the only thing certain 
about it was the kicks, of which there were enough 
and to spare. On 12th February Lord Althorp 
submitted certain proposals, to be embodied in a 
Bill for the abolition of vestry cess, the suppression 
of a number of bishoprics and Church livings, and the 
appropriation of the revenues thereby liberated to 
secular purposes. His proposals won O'Connell's 
gratitude. Perhaps, after all, the Whigs were going 
to do something for Ireland. Three days afterwards 
Earl Grey introduced a Bill into the House of 
Lords combining the provisions of the Proclamation 
Act, the Insurrection Act, the partial application 
of martial law, and the partial suspension of the 
Habeas Corpus Act. The horror of it pierced 
O'Connell to the heart. Never, even while denounc- 
ing the Speech from the Throne as *' bloody and 
brutal," with an emphasis that caused Lord John 
Russell to move that his words be taken down, had 



1835] The Whigs and Coercion. 273 

he anticipated a measure so drastic in its operation 
as that which Government now submitted to Parha- 
ment. Never, even in the pahniest days of Tory 
absolutism, had such an atrocious attack against the 
liberties of Ireland been committed as was now 
meditated by the Whigs. And these were their 
friends ! This the reward for helping them to pass 
Reform ! " Do not be alarmed about my health," 
O'Connell wrote to Edward Dwyer. *' The atrocious 
attempt to extinguish public liberty with which 
Ireland is menaced has made me young again. 
. Talk of a union, indeed, between the two coun- 
tries, after presuming to attempt to outlaw the in- 
habitants of one great portion of the empire ! " So 
intense was his indignation that, even before the 
Bill had been discussed in the Upper House, he 
seized the opportunity which a motion for supply 
afforded him to warn Government against the peril- 
ous course upon which they were entering. What, 
he asked, was the reason for a measure of such 
exceptional severity? Was a whole country to be 
outlawed on the mere ipse dixit of a minister, with- 
out further inquiry ? People charged him with agi- 
tating the repeal of the Union. But ministers were 
doing more than he was to further that object. For 
himself, he would say, though the admission might 
be turned against him in Ireland, that he had ever 
been, and still was, most attached to a British con- 
nection. He was a Repealer ; but he would prefer 
to see justice done to his countrymen by Parliament 
than by a local legislature ; and if he thought that 

the machinery of the present Government would 

18 



2 74 Daniel O' Connell. [1832- 

work well for Ireland, there never lived a man more 
ready to facilitate its movements than himself. The 
only reason he had for being a Repealer was the 
injustice of the Government towards his country, 
and the fact that that Government must be unjust so 
long as it lacked proper and impartial information. 
There was disorder in Ireland ; outrages had oc- 
curred. But was a whole country to be put under 
martial law for the crimes of a few? The only 
persons Government had to fear — the only per- 
sons he feared — were the Whiteboys. They, and 
they alone, opposed resistance to the execution of 
the laws, and it was against them alone, and not 
against the innocent that severe measures should be 
directed. It was a calumny — a deep, false, and 
foul calumny — to assert that political agitation was 
in any way connected with predial outrage. But 
the truth was, ministers had an ulterior purpose to 
serve in asking for these exceptional powers. Their 
real reason was to enforce the payment of tithes. 
Should the Act pass, let any parish resist the pay- 
ment of tithes, and let a cornstack or a haystack be 
burned in that parish by any — the merest — acci- 
dent, and it would be seen to what the accident was 
attributed. Woe then to such a parish and woe to 
the man in it that dared to refuse tithes. For them 
there would be no other mercy than the tender pity 
of dragoons and marines. He besought the Re- 
formers of England not to condemn Ireland un- 
heard. He solicited inquiry ; and should the result 
be unfavourable, should Englishmen with a full 
knowledge of the facts, think that Ireland ought to 



1835] The Whigs and Coercion. 275 

be governed by such measures as those proposed, he 
would be the first to say — ''Let Ireland submit." 

But his appeal was made in vain. Less than a 
week sufficed to see the Bill through the House of 
Lords. Its fortunes in the Commons were more 
chequered, but the result was the same. On 27th 
February Lord Althorp explained its provisions in a 
speech characterised by Lord John Russell as " tame 
and ineffective." A motion to postpone its intro- 
duction for a fortnight seemed likely to be carried. 
The credit of the Irish government, the fate of the 
ministry, hung in the balance. Both were saved by 
Stanley. His speech on that occasion is still re- 
membered as one of the greatest triumphs ever won 
in a popular assembly by the power of oratory. But 
it was won by equivocal methods — by arts which, 
however suitable to a rhetorician, Avere unworthy of 
a statesman. Any other man but O'Connell would 
have been overwhelmed by the fierce denunciation, 
the indignant scorn, the scathing irony, with which 
he was assailed. But he was fighting for the ele- 
mentary liberties of his country, and the attack 
passed harmlessly over him. 

*' I care not," he replied, '' for personal attacks. If I 
had not the consolation of knowing that my intentions 
are pure and disinterested, and that I am anxious only 
for peace, good order and freedom — if I had not the 
comfort of my own feelings in this respect — if my con- 
science did not approve, not of every expression, per- 
haps, but of my motives — if I did not feel that my 
motives are only the warmest wishes for the increase of 
human happiness and liberty, wherever the slave is 



276 Daniel O' Connell. [1832- 

oppressed, or the oppressor can be found — if I had not 
these things to console me, I might feel the attacks that 
have been made upon me." 

But the wrongs of his country had been mixed up 
with the attacks on him. Really, it was pitiable to 
see the representatives of the great and generous 
people of England legislating against a single indi- 
vidual. Why not save themselves that trouble ? 
Why not banish him for a year and a half ? He 
would consent to it. They should banish him on 
condition that they would not oppress his country. 
Such, however, was the difficult position in which he 
was placed, that he could not advise without being 
said to threaten ; he could not prophesy without be- 
ing taunted with provoking what he prophesied. 
He would not advise ; he would not prophesy ; he 
would, however, say that it was not enough to show 
that murders were being committed in Ireland to 
justify the suppression of the constitution. Minis- 
ters must show that the measure they proposed 
would cure the evils of which they complained. 
They could not show it. Coercion might produce 
temporary tranquillity, but it would be followed by 
greater rancour. It would produce the tranquillity 
of the grave — a deathlike silence, and a dreary re- 
pose ; but not peace — not quiet — not confidence. 
Political agitation had nothing whatever to do with 
predial outrages. He begged them to consider the 
following facts. In 1824 the Catholic Association 
was established. The number of persons charged 
with treasonable offences was, in 1823, 106 ; in 1824, 



1835] The Whigs and Coercion. 277 

I ; in 1825, I ; in 1826, i ; in 1827, none; in 
1828, none; in 1829, none. These were years of 
political agitation ; offences with violence decreased 
as political agitation spread. In 1822 there were 
499 persons accused of seditious practices ; in 1823, 
424; in 1824, 121; in 1825,17; in 1827,4; and 
whereas, for robbing of arms 64 men were arraigned 
in 1822, in 1823 there were only 7. How could 
they then say that predial and political agitation 
were concurrent ? Ireland was suffering ; she was 
in distress, she was a-hungry, and for bread they 
offered her a stone — they gave her, instead of re- 
medial measures, an Act which deprived Irishmen 
of trial by jury, which substituted court-martial, 
which deprived them of the Habeas Corpus Act, 
and in a word, imposed on each man the necessity 
of proving himself innocent. Did they think that 
such measures would put an end to the agitation 
for the repeal of the Union ? The present genera- 
tion might perish ; coercion might destroy the ex- 
isting population ; but the indignant soul of Ireland 
could not be annihilated. 



** There was a time when a ray of hope dawned upon 
that country. It was when the present Parliament first 
assembled. We saw this Reformed House of Commons 
congregated. We knew that every man here had a con- 
stituency ; we knew that the people of England were 
represented here ; we knew that the public voice not 
only would influence your decisions, but command your 
votes ; we hoped that you would afford us redress of 
our grievances : and you give us an Act of despotism ! " 



278 Daniel O'Connell. [1832- 

Never did O'Connell appear to greater advantage 
in the House of Commons ; nevermore unapproach- 
able in his lonely grandeur, than he did on this 
occasion. Once before, when defending Magee, 
once again, when addressing Ireland from the Hill 
of Tara, did he impress men with his greatness. 
But never again did he occupy the position he did 
on this occasion in the House of Commons. Night 
after night saw him at his post, in the House, in 
Committee, ever watchful, ever on his guard, ever 
ready to take advantage of the slightest slip on the 
part of the enemy. The versatility with which he ex- 
changed the character of an orator for that of a plod- 
ding, keen-scented, practical lawyer, was marvellous. 
No one who saw him in Committee quietly criticising 
now this now that passage, courteously suggesting 
some slight emendation in the wording of it, which 
would have gone far to emasculate the Bill, poHtely 
answering the most trivial questions, could have 
imagined that it was the same man who, a few 
hours previously, had been defying the oppressors of 
his country 

" Make your bondmen tremble. 
Must I observe you ? Must 1 stand and crouch 
Under your testy humour ? By the gods ! 
You shall digest the venom of your spleen 
Tho' it do split you." 

Stanley, in particular, found him a formidable op- 
ponent. No sooner was he driven from one position 
than he entrenched himself in another — fighting 
the Bill clause by clause, paragraph by paragraph, 



18 35] The Whigs a7id Coercion. 279 

almost word by word. A hostile House, a powerful 
press, Whiteboys and Whitefeet, more dangerous 
than either, were arrayed against him. Single- 
handed he fought them all, asking no assistance, 
and getting none. Even his enemies could not 
conceal their admiration of him as they realised the 
force of Cobbett's epithet — *'the member for Ire- 
land." Not his eloquence, not the sometimes tawdry 
rags of rhetoric in which he wrapped his thoughts, 
was it that made him great, and forced men against 
their wills to listen to him, but his earnestness. It 
was the man, not his words, that held them. One 
thought alone possessed him. He knew nothing, 
cared for nothing, but Ireland, and, looking on him, 
men seemed to be gazing on Ireland personified. 
Again and again the lines recurred to him : 

" Oh, Erin ! Shall it e'er be mine 
To right thy wrongs in battle line, 
To raise my victor head, and see. 
Thy hills, thy dales, thy people free ? 
That glance of bliss is all I crave 
Between my labours and the grave." 

And the words possessed a deeper significance for 
him than for the poet who wrote them. Men ma- 
ligned him in his life-time ; they criticised him after 
his death ; but of his love for Ireland, his patriotism, 
there is no question. He may have been mistaken 
in the policy he advocated ; he was intemperate and 
brutal in his language to those who opposed him ; 
but he was so because he regarded them as the 
enemies of his country, and his devotion to the land 



28o Daniel O'Connell. 



[1832- 



of his birth pleads for him and excuses him. Of him 
it could be said 

" His heart s his mouth. 
What his breast forges, that his tongue must vent ; 
And, being angry, does forget that ever 
He heard the name of death." 

But his opposition, if it retarded the Bill, could 
not prevent it becoming law early in April. One or 
two concessions were all he could wring from Gov- 
ernment, and Ireland, having been taught to fear, was 
now, according to rule, in a fit position to have kind- 
ness administered to her. On nth March, Althorp 
introduced his Church Temporaries Bill, of which 
he had given a sketch at the beginning of the ses- 
sion ; but before it had been proceeded with it was dis- 
covered that all the formalities connected with it had 
not been observed. It had, accordingly, to be with- 
drawn, and it was only on the first of April that 
Althorp was in a position to submit it to the House. 
Its progress was incredibly slow. People had time 
to forget that it was, in effect, the price of the Coer- 
cion Act, and when Stanley, on 2 1st June, moved to 
omit the clause appropriating the revenues of the 
suppressed bishoprics to purposes thought fit by Par- 
liament, the House supported him. 

The abandonment of the appropriation principle 
deprived the measure of all that gave it vitality, and 
O'Connell at once repudiated it on behalf of Ireland. 
Before, however, the Bill became law, the situation, as 
regarded Ireland, had considerably improved, render- 
ing it, in O'Connell's opinion, desirable to retain the 



1835] The Whigs and Coercion. 281 

Whigs in office. First and foremost, Stanley had 
been promoted to the Colonial office. His successor, 
overlooking Sir John Cam Hobhouse, who only held 
office a week or two, was Edward John Littleton, 
afterwards Lord Hatherton. The Church Tempor- 
alities Bill, without satisfying Ireland, had done 
much to weaken the ministry in England. During 
June and July the situation was extremely critical; 
everyone thought that the Grey administration was 
tottering to its fall. Despite his dissatisfaction with 
the Whigs, O'Connell had no desire to see the Tories 
in power, and on several occasions exerted himself 
conspicuously on behalf of the former. His exer- 
tions were not unrewarded, and though no actual 
promises were held out by Littleton he was given 
to believe that the press prosecutions, instituted by 
Stanley, would be dropped, that his plan of corporate 
reform would meet with support, and that an effort 
would be made in the direction of the total abolition 
of tithes. Satisfied with this result, he was much an- 
noyed to learn that his policy was strongly disap- 
proved of in Ireland, and that he was being charged 
with a desire to postpone Repeal. 

The fact was, his admission, during the Coercion 
debate, that he would prefer to see justice done to 
Ireland by the Imperial Parliament rather than by a 
domestic legislature, had, as he predicted it probably 
would, done him considerable harm. 

" I am bound in candour to tell you," he wrote to 
Fitzpatrick on 13th June, " that the advice of my friends 
in Dublin would not induce ?ne to consent to bring it 



282 Daniel O' ComiclL [1832- 

[Repeal] on this session, because I know that any rational 
discussion upon it is impossible in this advanced and 
complicated state of the public business. We should 
have been either deprived of a House by members going 
away, or we should be treated with contempt and ridi- 
cule by men who are now thinking of nothing else save 
escaping from London and getting rid of the session." 

A day or two afterwards there was a meeting in 
St. Audeon's parish, Dublin, at which a resolution 
was passed virtually censuring him for his inactivity 
in regard to Repeal. 

" I am sorry," he wrote when he heard of it, "to find 
that eighteen members of St. Audeon's parish should 
have given my enemies such a triumph over me. 
Well ! well ! well ! How idle it is for every man to expect 
to be treated with fairness ? To insinuate that / inter- 
pose a delay to carrying the Repeal ! " 

But the mischief did not stop here. The subject 
was taken up by the Freeman s Jourfial in Ireland, 
and by Feargus O'Connor in London. Feargus 
O'Connor, of Chartist celebrity, the scatter-brained 
son of a still madder father, had succeeded, contrary 
to all expectation, in getting himself returned M. P. 
for county Cork at the last general election. The 
victory seemed to have turned the little brains he 
possessed, and, conceiving that an opportunity now 
presented itself of substituting himself for O'Connell 
as leader of the Irish party, he suddenly announced 
his determination of moving the Repeal of the Union 
on 1 6th July. Nothing could alter his resolution, 
and O'Connell, feeling that the situation was critical, 
summoned a meeting of his '' tail." Opinion was 



1835] The Whigs and Coercion. 283 

divided, and it was only by pledging himself to bring 
the question before Parliament early in the next 
session that he managed to stave off the danger of a 
premature debate. 

Naturally enough, Feargus got plenty of applause 
for his resolute conduct — some of it sincere, some 
of it for the express purpose of setting the Irish 
members by the ear. The press joined in. The 
London papers had long " burked " O'Connell's 
speeches ; they now began to misrepresent him. It 
was not the first time he had complained of being 
improperly reported. In Ireland the reporters had 
excused themselves on the ground that he spoke 
too rapidly and too long. The reporters of the 
House of Commons made no excuse. To O'Con- 
nell's charge of " wilful misrepresentation " they re- 
plied by refusing to report him at all. Their power 
was very great ; they boasted of having put down a 
Tierney and a Windham, and another man would 
have hesitated before entering into the lists with 
them. But O'Connell had hit upon a plan to make 
them listen to reason. " If the Times does not re- 
port me, it shall not report anybody else," he wrote 
to Fitzpatrick. On 26th July he brought the mat- 
ter before the House, and, treating their refusal to 
report him as a breach of privilege, he obtained an 
order for the proprietor and printer of the Times to 
attend at the bar of the House. His speech in ap- 
plication for the order was not reported, and three 
days later he moved that the order for the day for 
their attendance at the bar be read. He lost his 
motion ; the reporters smiled at his defeat. But he 



284 Daniel O' Co7inelL [1832- 

had still his trump card to play. Hardly had the 
Speaker taken the chair than he said, " I think, Sir, 
I see strangers in the gallery." A minute or two 
afterwards not a stranger, not a reporter, was to be 
seen in the House. Next morning people scanned 
the papers anxiously to see what had taken place. 
Not a line, not a word, of what had happened was to 
be found in them. The victory was won ; the day 
following the reporters surrendered. 

Before the session came to an end, O'Connell re- 
turned with his family to Ireland. His health, not- 
withstanding the strain placed upon it of almost 
seven months' close and unremitting labour, had 
never, he declared, been better; but he needed rest, 
and longed for the fresh sea breezes of Darrynane. 
Replying to an invitation to a banquet at Cork, that 
reached him shortly after his return, he begged his 
friends to postpone for a time the honour they 
wished to show him. 

" I want," he wrote, *' the calm and quiet of my loved 
native hills — the bracing air, purified as it comes over 
* the world of waters,' the cheerful exercise, the majestic 
scenery, of these awful mountains, whose wildest and 
most romantic glens are awakened by the enlivening cry 
of my merry beagles, whose deep notes, multiplied one 
million times by the echoes, speak to my senses as if it 
were the voice of magic powers commingling with the 
eternal roar of the mighty Atlantic, that breaks and 
foams with impotent rage at the foot of our stupendous 
cliffs." 

Above all, he wanted time to prepare himself for 



1835] The Whigs and Coercion. 285 

the great Repeal effort he had promised to make in 
the following session, and he had hardly been a 
week at Darrynane before he instructed Fitzpatrick 
to send him every book on Irish history that he 
could lay his hands on. " You cannot," he wrote, 
'' send me down too much Irish history." He had 
already, in a " Letter to the People of Ireland," on 
the first of July, expounded his plan of action to 
procure as many petitions as possible for the repeal 
of the Union, to conciliate Protestant opinion in Ire- 
land, and to prepare the popular mind in England 
and Scotland for the discussion of the question, by 
showing them that Repeal did not mean separation, 
but directly the reverse ; " my political creed being, 
that the best possible political revolution is not 
worth one single drop of human blood." Brave 
words ! But the burden of the Coercion Act, and 
the practical suspension of the agitation since the 
general election, had completely damped the popular 
enthusiasm for Repeal. O'Connell's own attitude, 
too, was equivocal ; rumour persistently ascribed to 
him an intention of joining the ministry, and though 
he gave it an unqualified denial, people did not be- 
lieve him to be in earnest. The indifference of the 
public reacted on him. 

" May not," he wrote in confidence to Fitzpatrick, 
Repeal be dispensed with, if we get beneficial meas- 
ures without it ? This is a serious question, and one 
upon which good men may well differ ; but it is my 
duty to make up my mind upon it, and I have made up 
my mind accordingly — that there can be no safety, no 



2 86 Daniel O' Co7inelL [1832- 

permanent prosperity in Ireland, without a repeal of 
the Union." 

Towards the latter end of September, Lord Angle- 
sey, exhausted with his vain efforts to recover his 
popularity, surrendered the reins of government to 
the Marquis of Wellesley, who thus became, for the 
second time, Viceroy of Ireland. O'Connell improved 
the occasion by administering a final kick to the de- 
parting governor, and by advising his countrymen to 
confide in the good intentions of his successor. The 
advice was a feeble substitute for the expected sum- 
mons to rally round the standard of Repeal. But 
O'Connell, truth to say, was not in a fighting humour. 
He was drifting, he knew not exactly whither ; hop- 
ing he knew not exactly for what — one day sanguine, 
the next despondent. " There is a lull in politics 
just now," he wrote to Fitzpatrick on 20th Septem- 
ber, " but the land breeze will soon spring up, and 
we shall have a stiff gale before we are much older. 
I pause to obtain Protestant aid." Weeks passed 
away without any sign of the weather freshening. 
The calm told on O'Connell's nerves. '' I am per- 
haps," he wrote on 31st October, " out of spirits, 
unjustly or without cause, but I feel a sense of deser- 
tion of me, when I ought not. . . . What alarms 
me principally is that, although I see some newspaper 
puffs, I do not see anywhere, save in Cork, the organ- 
isation which could promise success." Worse fol- 
lowed. He had been led to believe that the press 
prosecutions instituted by Stanley would be aban- 
doned by Littleton. His belief proved unfounded. 
In November, Richard Barrett, editor of the Pilot, 



?835] The Whigs and Coercion. 287 

was tried in Dublin for publishing a letter of O'Con- 
nell's, alleged to be libellous. O'Connell, as in hon- 
our bound, undertook his defence. It was some 
relief to vent his indignation against "the vile cozen- 
ing Whigs" in a speech infinitely more libellous than 
that complained of. But the jury, wholly Tory and 
Orange in sentiment, while they relished his fierce 
tirade against their political opponents, were alive 
to their own interests, and convicted Barrett, with 
hardly the ceremony of a consultation. 

Never, perhaps, had O'Connell passed a more mis- 
erable Christmas ; but the weary recess came at last 
to an end, and the first day of the new session found 
him in his accustomed seat in St. Stephen's. The 
Speech from the Throne called attention to and dep- 
recated, " with feelings of deep regret and just indig- 
nation, the continuance of attempts to excite the 
people of Ireland to demand a repeal of the legisla- 
tive union." O'Connell moved the omission of the 
obnoxious paragraph, but was defeated by 189 to 23 
votes. It was a bad omen for the success of the 
Repeal debate, to which he had promised to treat the 
House later on in the session. " I find the House of 
Commons," he wrote on 7th February, " more intol- 
erant of Ireland than it was last session — hating us 
more — more disposed to do us mischief. It is a 
disposition which will evince itself in some overt 
acts before this session is over." The situation was, 
in fact, disheartening. The thought of the speech 
he had to make weighed upon him like a nightmare. 
During the recess he had been studying Irish history, 
but only to find that the more he studied it the less 



288 Da7iiel O' ConnelL [1832- 

he knew about it. " The first display in Parliament 
on the Repeal question," he had written on nth 
October, " is one which, to do it justice, would re- 
quire months of seclusion." As the fatal day, the 
22nd of April, approached, his nervousness grew 
upon him. '' I feel lonely," he wrote to Fitzpatrick. 
*' I can make but little — miserably little of my sub- 
ject. Would to God it were in abler hands." At 
the beginning of April he took a week's holiday on 
the south coast, visiting Canterbury cathedral, and 
finding some spiritual consolation in contemplating 
the spot where Thomas a Becket was murdered. 
But the thought of his speech preyed upon him 
night and day. Had it been possible, he would 
gladly have withdrawn from his undertaking ; but he 
w^as pledged to bring the subject before Parliament, 
and withdrawal, he knew well, would be more fatal 
than defeat. 

" I never," he wrote on 9th April, " felt half so nervous 
about anything as I do about my Repeal effort. It will 
be my worst. I sink beneath the load. My materials 
are confused, and totally without arrangement. 
It is quite true, I have often desponded before a public 
exertion and afterwards succeeded, but this cannot now 
be the case. I feel, for the first time overpoiveredy 

His fears proved not altogether groundless, though 
the fault was more in his subject than in himself. 
Rising to move the appointment of a committee to 
inquire into and report on, the means by which the 
abolition of the Parliament of Ireland was effected. 



1835] J- >^^^ yy fi'^g 



The Whigs and Coercioii. 289 



on the effects of that measure on Ireland, and on the 
probable consequences of continuing the legislative 
union, he spoke for rather over five hours. It was a 
great effort, but hardly to be called a great speech. 
He set himself to prove three points : first, that Eng- 
land had no right of conquest, nor any title to the 
subjugation of Ireland ; second, that no Parliament, 
deriving its power of legislation from the people, had 
the right to annihilate itself; and third, that Ireland 
had declined in prosperity since, and because of, the 
Union. His speech thus possessed a threefold as- 
pect — an historical, a constitutional, and a financial. 
For the historical argument, the less said about it 
the better ; it was deadly dull and worthless ; for the 
constitutional, he made one telling quotation from 
Locke, which, had the Union been a matter of 
merely academic discussion, would, in itself, have 
settled the question ; in his financial argument, he 
stood on firmer ground, but his figures were badly 
arranged, and, worse than all, they were answerable. 
Had he devoted his attention more to this aspect of 
the question, and less to the historical, he would un- 
doubtedly have produced a greater effect, have bored 
his audience less, and have rendered the task of 
Spring Rice, who, having made a special study of the 
relations between the two kingdoms, was put up to 
answer him, a much more difficult one. This, he 
himself admitted. The question, he explained to 
Fitzpatrick, '* turns upon the single fact, whether or 
not Ireland has prospered by or since the Union. 
Rice figures Ireland into prosperity. Is Ireland 

prosperous ? Whoever thinks not, refutes Rice's 

19 



290 Daniel O' Con^iell. [1832- 

entire case and that of the Unionists. Whoever 
says ' Yes ' gives Rice the victory." 

From O'Connell's point of view, this is no doubt 
quite true. Nevertheless, it may perhaps be per- 
mitted to dissent from the opinion that the case for the 
Union hinges on the prosperity or non-prosperity of 
Ireland. The Union, it may at once be said, is not 
a topic for academic discussion. It may be granted 
that England has no claim to hold Ireland by right 
of conquest, though it is difficult to understand what, 
in the face of actual facts, that assertion exactly 
means ; it may be allowed that no legislature has the 
power to annihilate itself ; it may even be admitted 
that Ireland has not prospered under the Union ; and 
yet the Union remains a solid and stubborn fact. 
Why ? Simply because it is to England's interest 
to maintain it. Stripped of all irrelevant, including 
not a little hypocritical, matter, the Union was car- 
ried by force, and has ever since been so maintained. 
It is not a question of justice or injustice, of prosper- 
ity or the reverse, but of simple utility. *' Political 
problems," said Burke, '* do not primarily concern 
truth or falsehood. What in the result is likely to 
produce evil, is politically false ; that which is pro- 
ductive of good, politically true." The Union was 
Pitt's attempt to solve a problem which in his opinion 
involved, not only the safety, but the very existence 
of the British Empire ; and it is no paradox to say 
that if any single individual was responsible for it, 
that individual was Theobald Wolfe Tone. This 
was entirely Peel's view of the subject, when, in 
the present debate, he insisted that Repeal was not 



1835] The Whigs and Coercion, 291 

merely a question between England and Ireland, nor 
between Great Britain and Europe, but between the 
British Empire and the world. Whether the Union 
was not apolitical blunder of the first magnitude is 
another matter. But if it is ever to be repealed, it 
must be shown to be a blunder to Englishmen. The 
moment that England is convinced that it is to her 
interest to restore to Ireland her domestic legislature, 
that moment the Union will stand repealed. Ireland 
never had anything to do with the making of it, and 
will have nothing to do with the unmaking of it, ex- 
cept in so far as she may have the power of creating 
the necessity for it. When O'Connell urged the 
influx of Irish cheap labour into the English market 
as a motive for repealing the Union, men listened to 
him ; when he spoke of justice and mercy, they 
turned a deaf ear to him and rejected his motion for 
inquiry by 523 to 38. 

Still, the debate was not wholly unproductive of 
good. Many, even while they voted for the reten- 
tion of the Union, had not listened altogether un- 
moved to the recital of Ireland's wrongs, and a 
strong feeling sprang up of a desire to treat her with 
greater leniency and consideration. The change of 
sentiment did not escape O'Connell. " I repeat," 
he wrote to Fitzpatrick, '' we Repealers have made 
great moral way in the opinion of the House." The 
consequences were important. Immediately the Re- 
peal debate was over, Littleton introduced a Bill for 
the commutation of tithe into a land tax. The Bill 
naturally failed to satisfy O'Connell, who called it 
a " most excellent humbug " ; but it was equally 



292 Daniel O ' Con nell. \\ 832- 

unsatisfactory, though for different reasons,to Stanley. 
Curiosity was on tiptoe to know how far ministers 
were in agreement upon it, and Sheil pointedly 
asked them whether they were prepared to maintain 
or abandon the Church Establishment. Stanley re- 
plied ambiguously ; but Lord John Russell, casting 
discretion to the wind, acknowledged that, having 
resisted Repeal on the ground that Parliament was 
ready to attend to the just complaints of the people 
of Ireland, he could not lightly regard the obligation 
thereby contracted. ** Johnny has upset the coach," 
laconically remarked Stanley to Sir James Graham ; 
if not indeed quite, he let it be seen that dissensions 
existed in the Cabinet, and made an opening for the 
thin end of the wedge which was to lead to its 
disruption. 

Seeing how matters were going, O'Connell, in or- 
der not to give any chance for a joint attack on Ire- 
land, commanded an absolute suspension of the 
Repeal agitation. His friends, he wrote, were not 
to suppose that he had in any way altered his 
mind upon the necessity of Repeal ; but the situa- 
tion was critical, and he was endeavouring to make 
the most of it by using ** the Repeal in tcrrorem 
merely until it is wise and necessary to recommence 
the agitation," his object being to " seek for practi- 
cal benefits for Ireland in a tone and temper beyond 
reproach," and not to afford ministers the slightest 
excuse to renew the Coercion Act, which would ex- 
pire with the session. The course of events favoured 
his project. On 27th May, a motion was made to 
pledge the House to the appropriation of surplus 



1835] The Whigs and Coe7'czo7i. 293 

Church property in Ireland to secular purposes. 
The motion placed Government in an awkward di- 
lemma and, seeing no way out of the difficulty 
without resigning, Stanley, Graham, the Duke of 
Richmond, and Lord Ripon withdrew from the min- 
istry. A short adjournment took place, in order to 
afford time to supply their places, and then the 
business of the session recommenced. The main 
question was the Tithe Bill. Could O'Connell, it 
was asked, be induced to withdraw his opposition to 
it? Littleton thought it possible to manage him. 
He was known to be anxious not to have the Coer- 
cion Act renewed, and Wellesley, though not pre- 
pared to retract his opinion entirely as to the 
necessity for its renewal, was willing to meet his 
colleague's wishes by accepting it minus its political 
clauses. 

Believing that he had thus smoothed the way for 
an understanding, Littleton, with the assent of Al- 
thorp, but without the knowledge of Grey, opened 
up negotiations with O'Connell. He found him not 
merely willing to treat, but ready to assist Govern- 
ment. Privately, he was more than satisfied. 

" I have great pleasure," he wrote confidentially to Fitz- 
patrick on 24th June, " in telling you that no part of the 
Coercion Bill is to be renewed but that which relates to 
* Predial Agitation,' and even from that everything un- 
constitutional is to be omitted. We must, therefore, soon 
bethink ourselves of returning to Dublin, and of arrang- 
ing for political agitation. But this must not appear in 
any newspaper." 



294 Daniel O' Connell. [1832- 

What, then, was his surprise, to hear ten days 
later from Littleton that, owing to the opposition 
of the Prime Minister, the Cabinet had resolved to 
renew the Coercion Act in all its terrors. Thinking 
himself to have been purposely misled, he told Lit- 
tleton that nothing remained for him but to resign. 
This, unfortunately for his credit, Littleton, trusting 
to the chapter of accidents, did not do, and the Cabi- 
net, supporting Grey, in his resolution, O'Connell 
made the whole transaction public. The result was 
the resignation of Earl Grey, and the reconstruction 
of the administration under Lord Melbourne, with 
Lord Duncannon as Home Secretary, and Welles- 
ley and Littleton retaining their respective posts in 
Ireland. 

O'Connell was jubilant at the result. 

"We are," he wrote, " on the way from half Whig, half 
Tory government, to one half Radical, half Whig, with- 
out the slightest admixture of Toryism. The moment 
such a Ministry is formed there will be a famous turning 
off in Ireland. The Attorney-General (Blackburne) 
will certainly be dismissed, and the entire Orange clique 
will go with him." 

Shorn of its political clauses, the Coercion Bill 
passed its third reading on 26th July ; but the Tithe 
Bill, after passing safely through the Commons, was 
rejected by the Lords on nth August. Two days 
previously, O'Connell had left London for Ireland, 
quieter in his mind, though unable to secure the re- 
moval of Blackburne, than he had been for a long 
time. Two months passed away : for O'Connell 



1835J The Whigs and Coercion. 295 

two months of delightful rest and recreation at 
Darrynane, but otherwise of deep disappointment. 
Of the *' turning off," which he had so confidently 
expected under the new regime, there had been no 
sign ; on the contrary, it seemed as if the Whigs 
were determined, by every means in their power, to 
strengthen the hands of the Orange party. 

"You are now," he wrote indignantly to Lord Dun- 
cannon on nth October, "three months in office, and 
you have done nothing for Ireland ; you have not in 
any, even the slightest degree, altered the old system. 
The people are as ground down by Orange functionaries 
as ever they were in the most palmy days of Toryism." 

When the news came, a month later, that the King, 
taking advantage of the removal of Althorp to the 
Upper House in consequence of the death of his 
father, Earl Spencer, had dismissed Melbourne and 
called upon Peel to construct a Tory administration, 
he exclaimed, " It is well that we are rid of the hum- 
buggers. Nous verrons. I am convinced that all 
will be for the better." But second thoughts are 
proverbially wiser, and at the general election in 
January, 1835, he rendered what assistance he could 
to promote the success of the Whigs. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



IRELAND UNDER THOMAS DRUMMOND. 



1 83 5- 1 840. 



IN the new Parliament, which met for the first 
time on 19th February, 1835, neither Whigs 
nor Tories had a decided majority ; the balance 
of power lay with O'Connell and his Repeal contin- 
gent. This circumstance, and the fact that O'Con- 
nell's sympathies inclined him towards the Whigs, 
rendered a more formal understanding between 
them not only possible, but, in the opinion of both, 
desirable. The result was what is known as the 
" Lichfield House Compact." It is not worth while 
quarrelling with the name, though '' compact," as 
Lord John Russell said, " it was none ; but an alli- 
ance on honourable terms of mutual co-operation." 
The terms of the agreement were of the simplest 
possible. O'Connell offered his assistance to put 
the Whigs in power, and to maintain them there on 
condition that they would govern Ireland wisely and 
beneficently. For himself he asked nothing. 

It was not long before the fruits of the alliance 
were visible. On 8th April Peel, having been de- 

296 



1835-40] Ireland under Drtiinmojid. 297 

feated on the question of appropriating the surplus 
property of the Church of Ireland to secular uses, 
resigned ofifice, thereby obliging the King, much 
against his will, to call on Melbourne to construct an 
administration. In the distribution of posts that 
followed Lord Mulgrave was appointed Lord Lieu- 
tenant of Ireland, with Lord Morpeth as his Chief 
Secretary. The case of O'Connell presented some 
difficulty. It was felt that if possible he ought to 
be provided for. He expressed his willingness to 
accept the Attorney Generalship, if only to show his 
inveterate enemies, the Orangemen, that the office 
might be impartially executed ; but the King's pre- 
judices interposed an insuperable obstacle, and the 
Mastership of the Rolls, which was offered to him, he 
declined. He was quite content to be excluded. 

" I have," he wrote to Fitzpatrick on 14th April, 
*' been most highly flattered and thanked, etc., etc., for 
my conduct, and yet it would be not only folly, but guilt, 
in me to accept any office until / have see?i how the new 
Ministry works. My policy is obvious — to keep what 
control I possibly can over the new government, instead 
of being under its control. ' I will also be more useful by 
influencing the appointment of others than by submitting 
to take an appointment myself." 

He was right. Relieved by the self-denying ordin- 
ance he had placed on himself, ministers showed 
extra willingness to listen to his advice. Louis Per- 
rin, a highly respected Protestant barrister, whose 
claims he had constantly urged, was made Attorney 
General; Michael O'Loghlen, who next to himself 



298 Daniel O' Co7i7ielL [1835- 

had the highest reputation and largest practice among 
CathoHc lawyers, was appointed Solicitor General ; 
and last, but not least, Thomas Drummond w^as ap- 
pointed Under Secretary at the Castle. When the 
arrangements were completed, O'Connell with his 
contingent passed over from the opposition to the 
ministerial side of the House. Thus was the " com- 
pact," or " alhance," or understanding, or what- 
ever it might be called, begun at Lichfield House, 
formally and openly ratified. 

Paying a hurried visit to Dublin, O'Connell ex- 
plained his position in a " Letter to the People of 
Ireland." 

*' I come now," he wrote, " before the people to avow 
myself the determined supporter of the Administration. 
To the King's Ministers I have tendered my unbought, 
unpurchasable, unconditional support. I have neither 
made terms nor stipulations with them. It suffices for 
me that their political principles are all identified with 
the cause of good government and of justice to the loved 
land of my birth. . . . It is under this impression that I 
have tendered my support. It is simply and singly be- 
cause I deem them the friends of Ireland that they com- 
mand my services, such as they are. . . . But, as I 
have not deemed it necessary or wise to make stipula- 
tions with the present Ministry, I may, and I ought to, be 
asked what benefits I expect to anticipate for Ireland 
from the King's present Ministers. . . . The coun- 
try will cease to be governed by its unrelenting enemies. 
The Ministers will necessarily displace their own and the 
people's enemies, and employ the friends of the people 
and their own. . . . The administration of justice 



1840] Ireland under Thoinas Drummond. 299 

in Ireland will be purified. The selection to judicial 
offices of political partisans will never more be heard of ; 
men who have proved their integrity and independence 
by political honesty in times when it was a crime to dare 
to be liberal will be the fit objects of the selection of the 
Ministry ; and the waters of justice will no longer be 
poured through mephitic channels, destructive of life 
and property, but will flow in pure sources, diffusing 
salubrity and gladness over the land." 

The Melbourne administration lasted five years, 
and for almost the whole of that period it com- 
manded the support, if not always the praise, of 
O'Connell. It solved the tithe difficulty, reformed 
the municipal corporations, and gave Ireland a poor 
law. But it was not so much in its legislative, as in 
its administrative capacity, that it was most success- 
ful. For the first time since the Union, Ireland en- 
joyed a government that was really entitled to be 
called popular. The streams of justice for once 
flowed in pure sources. For once the whole people 
went to Court. And if the name of Thomas Drum- 
mond, who, nil actum reptitans, si quid siiperesset 
agendum^ literally killed himself in trying to serve 
her, is to-day one of the most beloved and revered 
in Ireland, it ought not to be forgotten that it is to 
O'Connell, in the first place, that thanks are due for 
rendering such a government as that of Drummond's 
possible. People still talk of his one great Emanci- 
pation success being balanced by his great Repeal 
failure. His contemporaries blamed him for his sus- 
pension of the Repeal agitation. But it cannot too 
often be repeated that O'Connell's great object was, 



300 Da7iiel O^ Connell. [1835- 

not Repeal but good government. That he got from 
the Mulgrave-Drummond administration, and suc- 
cess justified his experiment. Had Ireland been 
blessed with a few more Thomas Drummonds in the 
early decades of the century, there would never have 
been any question of Repeal at all, and O'Connell 
would have been known merely as a great lawyer 
whose abilities had raised him to the highest legal 
of^ce in his native land. This the Orangemen of 
his own day knew perfectly well, and if Drummond 
was execrated by them, it was O'Connell that had 
to bear the brunt of their wrath. The wonder is 
that they did not succeed in driving him out of 
public life. 

To retrace our steps slightly. At the general 
election in January, 1835, O'Connell had been re- 
turned for Dublin with a considerably diminished 
majority. There was good reason to believe that 
many who had voted for him were disqualified by 
non-payment of rates, and a petition was at once 
lodged against him, the costs of which are said to 
have been largely defrayed by the Carlton Club. 
The petition was not decided till May in the follow- 
ing year, when O'Connell and his colleague, Ruthven, 
were unseated. Two votes, he bitterly remarked, 
would have made all the difference. The petition was 
one of the most expensive on record, and more than 
once, during its progress, O'Connell thought that he 
would have to go the length of mortgaging Darry- 
nane. The suspense was terrible, and the decision, 
though bitterly unpleasant to his feelings, was a 
relief. 




THOMAS DRUMMOND. 

AFTER PICKERSGILL BY H. COUSINS. 



18401 Ireland 2inder Thomas Di^ummond. 301 

" It has, indeed/* he wrote to Fitzpatrick on 13th May, 
" been an awful load. You are aware that the Dublin 
part of the business cost me ^650 or thereabouts, exclu- 
sive of the sum subscribed in that town. I did not get 
one shilling assistance for the expenses in London, of 
the weight of which you may judge when I tell you I 
had to pay counsel for 80 days, which you may estimate 
at the lowest at;^75 P^^ ^^^.y ; that is, in fees to counsel 
^6000 ; add to that my expenses in Dublin, and other 
expenses here, and you will find me at the loss of full 
;^8ooo at the lowest calculation. It has cost the opposite 
party four, or perhaps five times that sum ; but what 
comfort is that to me ! Recollect that I have four other 
petitions in my family to defend, and five contested elec- 
tions. The Youghal committee alone cost me more than 
;£^2ooo. This conspiracy against me is, therefore, nearly 
complete. . . . It is a compliment the Orange 
faction pay to my utility. . . . There is nothing 
fictitious in the fury with which I am pursued and 
persecuted." 

Driven from Dublin, he took refuge in Kilkenny, 
where a vacancy had been created for him. Day by 
day the Tory press of England and Ireland followed 
him with unrelenting hatred, pouring scorn on the 
Ministry that could stoop so low as to seek his co- 
operation. Nor were they altogether unsuccessful 
in inflaming the public mind against him. When 
Lord Melbourne announced in the House of Lords 
that he had succeeded in forming a ministry, Lord 
Alvanley, who had some reputation for being a wag, 
asked him with a sneer to explain the terms on 
which he had procured O'Connell's assistance. Mel- 
bourne replied with dignity that he had made no 



302 Daniel O' Connell. [1835- 

terms whatever with Mr. O'Connell. This was too 
much for Tory creduhty, and in the House of Com- 
mons Colonel Sibthorp begged leave to doubt whether 
Mr. O'Connell ''had not been a prompter and ad- 
viser in the things that had taken place." In reply- 
ing, O'Connell contrasted '' the good temper and 
politeness of Colonel Sibthorp " with the *' different 
style" used by a ''bloated bufToon " in another 
place. Naturally, Alvanley resented being called a 
"bloated buffoon"; but before he could make up 
his mind to demand satisfaction for the insult, O'Con- 
nell had left London. His letter, enclosed in one 
from his " friend," the Hon. Dawson Damer, reached 
its destination a Aveek after it had been written. 
"This bangs Banagher ! " was O'Connell's exclama- 
tion on reading it. Fancy a letter being sent by one 
person in Clifden to another person in London, 
to be transmitted to a third person in Dublin, to 
fight a duel ! A long shot truly ! For the rest, 
though inclined to treat the matter as a huge 
joke, he declared he had half a mind to bring 
it before the House of Commons, as a breach of 
privilege. Alvanley, in a paroxysm of rage, there- 
upon wrote to the managers of Brooks's, requesting 
them to expel O'Connell. This they very properly 
decHned to do ; but, the letter being public property, 
O'Connell's son Morgan took up the cudgels in 
his father's behalf. Alvanley agreed to accept him 
as his substitute, and the two, with their seconds, 
met on Wimbledon Common. There was no one 
on the ground but an old woman and a Methodist 
clergyman, who, in the exercise of his office, besought 



1840] Ireland under Thomas Drummond. 303 

Alvanley to think of his soul. ''Yes," replied he, 
"but my body is now in the greatest danger." 
Three shots were fired, and the parties separated. 
On returning to town, Alvanley handed his cabman 
gold. " This is a great deal for only taking your 
lordship to Wimbledon," said he. " It 's not for tak- 
ing me there, but for bringing me back," replied 
his lordship. The affair furnished the town with 
some amusement, and Alvanley became a celebrated 
character. 

" The Solon of statesmen, the Falstaff of wits. 
As even O'Connell in candour admits : 
He's the pride of the Park, of the Club, the saloon, 
For the wag of all wags is the " Bloated Buffoon." 

Following hard on his quarrel with Alvanley 
came one with Benjamin Disraeli, afterwards Lord 
Beaconsfield. Disraeli had solicited O'Connell's 
assistance in 1831, when contesting the borough of 
Wycombe in the radical interest. Nevertheless, he 
failed to get elected, and shortly afterwards going 
over to the Tories, spoke of O'Connell at Taunton as 
an " incendiary" and "traitor." O'Connell address- 
ing the " Dublin Franchise Union," in May, paid 
him out in his own coin. Disraeli, he declared, was 
a disgrace to his species — his life was a living lie. 
His name showed that he was by descent a Jew. 
His father became a convert. He was the better 
for that in the present world, and he, O'Connell, 
hoped he would be the better for it in the world 
to come. There was a habit of underrating that 
great and oppressed nation — the Jews. They were 



304 Daniel O' Connell. [1835- 

cruelly persecuted by persons calling themselves 
Christians; but no person ever yet was a Christian 
who persecuted. It would not, therefore, be sup- 
posed that when he spoke of Disraeli as the de- 
scendant of a Jew he meant to tarnish him on that 
account. The Jews were once the chosen people of 
God. But there were miscreants amongst them, 
even then, and it was surely from one of these that 
Disraeli was descended. He possessed just the 
qualities of the impenitent thief who died upon the 
cross, and with the impression that Disraeli was his 
descendant, he forgave the heir-at-law of the blas- 
phemous thief who died upon the cross. The 
severity of the rebuke pierced even Disraeli's cyni- 
cism, and, quivering with rage, he addressed a letter 
to Morgan O'Connell, modestly requesting him *' to 
resume his vicarious duties of yielding satisfaction 
for the insults which his father had too long lavished 
with impunity upon his political opponents." When 
Morgan flatly refused to comply with his insolent 
request, Disraeli published an open letter " to Daniel 
O'Connell," which he enclosed in another to Morgan. 
" Now, Sir," he wrote, " it is my hope that I have 
insulted him — assuredly it was my intention to do 
so ; and I fervently pray that you or some one of 
his blood may attempt to avenge the inextinguish- 
able hatred with which I shall pursue his existence." 
This letter Morgan returned with the remark, '' The 
tenor of your last letter is such that it is impossible 
for me to renew the correspondence." 

More damaging, however, to O'Connell's reputa- 
tion than either of these affairs was his controversy 



1840] Ireland under Thomas Drtnmnond. 305 

with Raphael. Alexander Raphael was a Catholic 
and a sheriff of the City of London. He was anxious 
to become an M.P., and a vacancy occurring shortly 
after the general election in the representation of the 
county of Carlow, O'Connell, beheving his principles 
to be " all we can desire," offered to assist in procur- 
ing his return. The terms of the agreement are set 
forth in the following letter : 

"9 Clarges St., ist June, 1835. My dear Sir, — Your 
having acceded to the terms proposed to you for the 
election of the county of Carlow, viz. — you to pay 
before nomination ;£'iooo, and a like sum after being 
returned, the first to be paid absolutely and entirely 
for being nominated, the second to be paid only 
in the event of your having been returned, I hereby 
undertake to guarantee and save you harmless from any 
and every other expense whatsoever, whether of agents, 
carriages, counsel, petition against the return, or of 
any other description. I make this guarantee in the 
fullest sense of the honourable engagement that you 
shall not possibly be required to pay one shilling more in 
any event or upon any contingency whatsoever. I am, 
etc. Daniel O'Connell." 

Raphael paid his first ;^iooo, and on 21st June was, 
together with a Mr. Vigors, elected M.P. for Carlow. 
He ought, of course, then and there to have paid his 
second ;^iooo ; but, getting wind that his return was 
to be petitioned against, he tried to keep fast hold of 
his money till the petition was decided in his favour. 
This O'Connell absolutely, in the interests of the 
Liberal Club at Carlow, refused to allow, and Ra- 
phael paid down his second;^ looo under protest. He 



3o6 Daniel O' Connell. [1835- 

was unseated, and O'Connell, to soften his disap- 
pointment, offered to use his influence to get him a 
baronetcy. Raphael declined the courtesy and, 
smarting under the loss of his money, revenged him- 
self by publishing a letter in the Times, on 31st 
October, setting forth his grievances and charging 
O'Connell with having appropriated part of the 
;^2000 to his own private purposes. His letter 
was hailed as a godsend by O'Connell's enemies, 
who at last thought they saw an opportunity of 
hounding him out of public life. Never had party 
passion run higher in England against a single 
individual than it did at the time against O'Connell. 
Never did language seem so inadequate to express 
the hatred and loathing with which he was regarded. 
Foremost among his detractors was, of course, the 
Times, and even in its own annals perhaps the scur- 
rility of the following lines remains unsurpassed : 

" Scum condensed of Irish bog ! 
Ruffian — coward — demagogue ! 
Boundless liar — base detractor ! 
Nurse of murders, treason's factor ! 

" Spout thy filth — effuse thy slime ; 
Slander is in thee no crime. 
Safe from challenge — safe from law, 
What can curb thy callous jaw ? 
Who would sue a convict liar? 
On a poltroon who would fire ? " etc. 

If the best conducted journal in England could find 
such language worthy of its columns, was it any 



1840] Ireland under Thomas Druinmo7td. 307 

wonder if fine gentlemen, like Sir Francis Burdett, 
could no longer bear to breathe the air contaminated 
by O'Connell, and, failing to procure his expulsion 
from Brooks's, resigned in a body ? The one man 
who preserved his temper was O'Connell himself. 
His reply to Sir Francis Burdett was particularly 
happy : 

" I shall," he wrote, " look out for ' a commodity of 
good words.' Everything that falls from my pen shall 
be redolent of the civet. I will carry on the political 
warfare with eau de rose. He who tells base lies shall in 
future be a ' falsificator ' ; he who betrays his principles, 
his party and his country, shall be ' a foolish and fading 
gentleman ' ; and he who, with only one virtue and a 
thousand faults, abandons that virtue, but corrects none 
of the faults, shall be — I do not at present know 
exactly what, but I will discover some perfumed word 
so soft as not to shake the shattered nerves of the most 
unsound, personally as politically, of the shattered roues 
of St. James's." 

The following session a committee was appointed 
to investigate the charge brought by Raphael. The 
committee, while finding the tone of the letter of 
agreement calculated tc excite suspicion, completely 
exonerated O'Connell, and the verdict of the com- 
mittee was subsequently confirmed by the House 
itself. O'Connell in his examination took, however, 
higher ground. His influence in Ireland was, he 
admitted, greater than any man ought to possess ; 
the temptation to misuse it was enormous, but it was 
the result of the injustice with which his country 
was treated, and would disappear as soon as her 



3o8 Daiiiel O' Coiuiell. [1835- 

grievances were redressed. The Raphael calumny 
was only one of many with which he was at this 
time assailed. To most of them he paid no atten- 
tion. But a remark of his, touching the demoralising 
influences of the poor laws in England, having been 
twisted into an attack on the virtue of English- 
women, he thought it necessary to explain himself, 
and also to give a flat denial to a scandal set on foot 
by Blackwood tha.t he had received ;^iooo from Mr. 
Potter, of Manchester, to vote for Poulett Thomson's 
Factory Bill. 

In the midst of the fierce warfare of personal 
abuse, he lost the tender consoling voice and sweet 
sympathy of his wife. Mrs. O'Connell died on 31st 
October, 1836. She was buried in the old ruined 
abbey of Darrynane. Her death left a large gap in 
O'Connell's life. It is the penalty that most great 
men pay for their greatness to be practically alone 
in the world, and, with the exception of Fitzpatrick, 
possibly the only friend that O'Connell possessed — 
the only person to whom he could unreservedly 
unbosom himself — was his wife. With her he 
buried all that had sweetened life for him — all that 
had mitigated defeat, that had compensated for 
sacrifice, that had enhanced victory. Unobtrusive 
in her life, her death is a factor in the last years of 
O'Connell's life which his biographer cannot afford 
to overlook, and explains much that would be other- 
wise unintelligible : the fits of gloomy despondency 
with which he was seized, the monastic penances 
he inflicted upon himself, the almost superhuman 
energy with which he conducted his Repeal agitation, 



1840] Ireland U7ide7^ Thomas DrMmmond, 309 

and the awful collapse that followed — the broken 
heart and the worn-out brain. 

To resume our narrative. The Melbourne admin- 
istration inaugurated its advent to office by sub- 
mitting to Parliament four measures of considerable 
importance, viz.: a Bill for reforming municipal cor- 
porations in England ; a Bill commuting tithe into 
a land tax, and appropriating the surplus revenues of 
the Church of Ireland ; a Bill for the better regula- 
tion of the police force of Dublin ; and a Bill for 
reforming Irish municipal corporations. The in- 
fluence of Peel secured the passing of the English 
Corporations Bill ; the three other measures were 
lost, or dropped in consequence of the opposition of 
the House of Lords. The unscrupulous fashion in 
which the Peers, relying on the unpopularity of the 
alliance between the Government and O'Connell, ex- 
ercised their privileges, elicited of course strong 
expressions on the part of the Whigs. A cry of 
" Down with the Lords! " was raised ; but although 
O'Connell, in the early autumn, undertook a cam- 
paign in the north of England and Scotland for the 
express purpose of fomenting the agitation against 
them, addressing enthusiastic audiences at Man- 
chester, Newcastle, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, and 
again in the following January at Liverpool and 
Birmingham, public opinion was unmistakably on the 
side of the Lords. 

The session of 1836 was practically a repetition of 
that of the previous year. The Irish Municipal Cor- 
porations Bill, after passing the House of Commons, 
was abandoned, in consequence of radical alterations 



3IO Daniel O' Comiell. [1835- 

made in it by the Lords, and for similar reasons the 
Tithe Bill was lost. In April, O'Connell addressed 
large meetings at Nottingham, Hull, and York, and 
on returning to Ireland, in August, set on foot a 
" General Association for Ireland," the objects of 
which were : first, to procure by law a complete 
municipal reform in Ireland, on as large and ef^cient 
a basis as that originally proposed by the Ministry, 
and secondly, to procure by law such a settlement of 
the tithe question as should be fully satisfactory to 
the people of Ireland. The Association was to be 
supported by an " Irish Rent," on the same basis as 
the " Catholic Rent," and to be dissolved immedi- 
ately its objects were attained. It, however, at- 
tracted little attention, and having, in the course of 
twelve months effected nothing, O'Connell took the 
earhest plausible opportunity to terminate its sickly 
existence. 

Parliament reassembled on 31st January, 1837. 
The Speech from the Throne suggested, in addition 
to the annual programme of a Tithe Bill and a Bill 
for corporate reform, the establishment of some 
adequate provision for the maintenance of the poor 
of Ireland. On i ith April the Municipal Bill, having 
passed its third reading in the House of Commons 
by a majority of 55, was sent up to the House of 
Lords. Not venturing to meet it with a direct 
negative, the Lords this time slightly altered their 
tactics of obstruction and, by refusing to consider it 
apart from the other measures prepared by Govern- 
ment, succeeded in bringing legislation to a deadlock. 
What the consequences of their action might have 



1840] Ireland under Thomas Drummond. 3 1 1 

been it is impossible with any certainty to predict. 
As it was, the death of William IV., on 20th June, 
solved the situation. 

O'Connell was full of enthusiasm for the new 
sovereign, Queen Victoria. Her youth, the dignity 
and grace of her deportment, the responsibility, not 
without danger, of her position, drew forth all the 
chivalry of his nature. There could be no doubt 
which party in the State possessed her sympathies, 
and at her proclamation he acted as sort of fugleman 
to the multitude, and regulated their acclamations. 
For Ireland the future seemed full of hope. 

" This," — he wrote to the secretary of the "General 
Association," — " this is the very point of the great experi- 
ment we are making to ascertain whether or not Ireland 
can be well and justly governed by an Imperial Legisla- 
ture, or whether we shall be driven back to look for a 
restoration of our native Parliament. This is the most 
happy period to work out the experiment. Ireland is 
now prepared to amalgamate with the entire empire. 
We are prepared for full and perpetual conciliation. Let 
Cork county and Yorkshire be put on a footing — let 
Ireland and England be identified. But for this purpose 
equality — of rights, laws and liberties — is essentially 
necessary. We desire no more, we will not take less. 
A real effectual union, or no union — such is the 
alternative." 

At the general election in July he strained every 
nerve to ensure the success of the Melbourne ad- 
ministration. " The Queen and her Ministers," 
was the only pledge exacted at the hustings, and 
that nothing might impede the work of conciliation 



3 1 2 Daniel O ' CoiinelL [1835- 

he gave notice of his intention to move the dissolu- 
tion of the " General Association." 

The result hardly answered his sanguine expecta- 
tions. With all the support he could furnish them, 
the Ministry obtained a bare majority of twenty-five. 
This, and the fact that O'Connell had again been re- 
turned for Dublin by an insignificant majority, stimu- 
lated his enemies to repeat the experiment of trying 
to drive him out of Parliament by subjecting him to 
another costly election petition. A society was 
formed, nicknamed, from the circumstance that it 
was presided over by Mr. Spottiswoode, one of the 
Queen's printers, '' the Spottiswoode gang," and 
subscriptions were collected for the avowed purpose 
of testing the legality of the Irish elections whole- 
sale. The uncertainty with which election petitions 
were then decided by committees, whose members 
not unfrequently preferred the claims of their party 
to those of strict justice, rendered the experiment 
really a formidable conspiracy, and evoked an out- 
cry of indignation, not only from its intended victims 
but also from those in whom the spirit of fair play 
had not been altogether extinguished by political 
passion. Alluding to the subject at a meeting in the 
Crown and Anchor tavern on 2 1st February, 1838, 
O'Connell, after denouncing the machinations of the 
" Spottiswoode gang " in no measured language, 
declared it was time to speak out plainly when 
gentlemen who ranked high in society persistently 
perjured themselves in the committees of the House 
of Commons. For himself, he was ready to be a 
martyr to justice and truth, but not to false swearing, 



1840] Ii^ eland tender Thomas D 7^ um^nond. 313 

and he repeated that there was foul perjury in the 
Tory committees of the House of Commons. Omit- 
ting the word " Tory " from the last sentence, no one 
dreamed of denying the statement ; but it was one 
thing to know that disputed elections were decided 
according to the political colour of the members 
composing the committees, and another to be told by 
an Irish demagogue that English gentlemen were 
habitually guilty of perjury. The word stuck in 
Lord Maidstone's throat, and he moved that O'Con- 
nell's speech was a false and scandalous imputation 
upon the honour of the House. The House after 
an acrimonious discussion endorsed the charge, and 
by 226 votes to 197 decided that O'Connell should 
be reprimanded for a breach of its privileges. The 
day came that was to witness his humiliation ; the 
Tory benches were crowded when the Speaker, calling 
on him to stand up in his place, read him a long 
and severe reproof on the impropriety of his con- 
duct. Without even resuming his seat, O'Connell 
quietly moved for the appointment of a committee 
to investigate the matter, and to the astonishment 
of the House then and there repeated his charge. 
" I express," he said, *' no regret : I retract nothing. 
I repent nothing. I do not desire unnecessarily to 
use harsh or offensive language. I wish I could find 
terms less objectionable and equally significant ; butT 
can not, and I am bound to reassert what I asserted." 
He fully expected to be committed, and had made 
his arrangements accordingly ; but to his amazement 
the House received his announcement in profound si- 
lence, and after a brief interval, convicted by its own 



314 Daniel O^ Connell. [1835- 

conscience, passed to the order of the day. The vic- 
tory he had won did not, however, prevent the 
*' Spottiswoode gang " continuing its efforts to oust 
him from his seat ; but fortunately the fickle favour of 
the ballot returned him a Liberal committee and, 
after mulcting him in i^iooo expenses, his enemies 
allowed him to escape. 

The result was all the more remarkable, as his 
popularity in Dublin had been greatly damaged by 
his recent refusal to countenance trades-unionism in 
Ireland. His attitude on this question, as on the 
poor laws and the employment of child labour in 
factories, is of course open to criticism, and is less 
likely to command respect in the present day than it 
was in his own. Still, if the doctrine of laisser-faire 
has of recent years fallen somewhat into disrepute, 
owing to the growing complexity of the conditions 
of daily life, the fact does not detract from the 
courage with which he maintained his opinions in the 
face of such opposition as he had never before 
experienced in Ireland. So intense, indeed, was the 
indignation which his conduct aroused that, for days 
together he was hooted in the streets, and when he 
offered to argue the question his voice was drowned 
in a storm of angry yells and hisses. Popularity is 
dear to most men : it was dear to O'Connell ; but it 
was not the first, nor was it to be the last, time in his 
life that he imperilled it in obedience to the dictates 
of conscience. As he had without hesitation risked 
his popularity, so did he a few weeks later sacrifice 
what to him as a lawyer was probably the highest 
object of his ambition. On 17th June he was offered 



1840] Ireland under Thomas Drummond. 3 1 5 

by Lord Mulgravethe position of Chief Baron of the 
Exchequer, rendered vacant through the death of 
Baron Joy. He decHned the office, fearing that, 
having to preside over a court which had exclusive 
cognisance of those writs of rebeUion which the 
tithe war had called into existence, he might not be 
able to act with the impartiality required from him, 
and that his desire to do justice to his political 
opponents might render him unjust to his friends. 
Mulgrave offered to make arrangements for his suc- 
ceeding to the Mastership of the Rolls. It was a 
tempting offer. " You know," he wrote to Fitz- 
patrick, "that if I took anything, it would be the 
Rolls. But I could not bring myself to accept it. I 
am, perhaps, a fool, but I have not the heart to 
desert Ireland — Ireland that never yet had a steady 
friend." 

Meanwhile the Melbourne administration, begin- 
ning its Irish legislation de novo, but taught by 
experience the necessity of conciliating opposition 
even at the expense of its principles, had succeeded 
in passing a Tithe Bill shorn of the appropriation 
clauses to which it originally owed its existence, and 
to which it had thitherto pinned its reputation, and a 
Poor Law which satisfied neither the supporters nor 
the opponents of state-provided relief. Still, so long 
as Drummond governed Ireland, O'Connell was 
content to overlook its legislative shortcomings. 
''Blessed be Heaven," he wrote on nth August, 
*' that the session is over, and that we have a respite 
from the enemy and good government for another 
year ! " He was always glad to get back to Ireland ; 



3i6 Daniel O' Connell. ti835- 

but life, since his wife's death, was beginning to lose 
its interest for him, and his thoughts became more 
and more concentrated on heaven and futurity. The 
approach of autumn, which had once, with its hare- 
hunting, been to him the happiest period of the year, 
filled him now with sad reflections. He felt lonely 
and unhappy. The old love for his country still 
burned within him ; but his success had been so little 
commensurate with his hopes, and the prospect was 
far from bright. He was growing old ; the bustle 
and worry of political strife wearied him, and on 
returning to Ireland, instead of going straight to 
Darrynane, as his custom was, he retired for a season 
to the quiet cloisters of the Cistercian monastery of 
Mount Melleray, in county Waterford. He was 
accompanied by O'Neill Daunt, who has placed on 
record his impressions of the journey thither: the 
questions with which he pestered his companion ; 
their reception by the abbot, the sub-prior and about 
twenty of the brethren ; the vesper hymn and the 
solemn midnight service in the chapel on the lonely 
hillside during a terrific thunder-storm. But Daunt, 
amiable man though he no doubt was, was but a 
feeble Boswell, and one would gladly exchange some 
of his prattle for a glimpse at the elements of the 
tragedy that was beginning to work itself out in 
O'Connell's life. 

On emerging from his retreat, O'Connell again 
threw himself into the work of political agitation. 
The time, he saw, could not be far distant when the 
Tories would once more be in power. So far as the 
Melbourne ministry was concerned, he was willing to 



1840] Ireland under Thow.as Dritminond. 3 1 7 

give it credit for the best intentions in the world ; he 
was ready to believe that the Queen was actuated 
by the '* noble ambition of making her reign cele- 
brated by the pure and perfect pacification of Ire- 
land." But it was clear that neither the ministry 
nor even the Queen could procure them the legislat- 
ive relief they asked for. What, then, was to be 
done? What else but ''to rouse the people — all 
the people of Ireland — into one simultaneous and 
combined movement, until it ceases to be prudent 
for the Tories to oppose our just claims? " For this 
purpose he set about founding a '* Precursor Society." 
The title exactly expressed what he meant its objects 
to be. " The Precursors," he wrote, '' may precede 
justice to Ireland from the United Parliament and 
the consequent dispensing with Repeal agitation. It 
may precede Repeal agitation — and will, shall and 
must precede Repeal agitation if justice be refused." 
But the name puzzled common people. ** What," 
asked an English traveller of his car-driver, '* is the 
object of the Precursor Society?" " Pray-curse- 
Sir ! " was the ready answer: ** Why, to pray curses 
on the inimies of Ireland, to be sure ! " 

The movement, however, despite all O'Connell's 
efforts to advertise it, failed to interest the public. 
Nor is the reason for their apathy far to seek. They 
had heard so much of flapping Repeal about the ears 
of Government as a means of extorting concessions 
that they could not bring themselves to believe that 
this was not merely another threat on O'Connell's 
part. Their indifference mortified him sorely. The 
year, in fact, was full of bitterness for him. In May, 



3i8 Daniel O' ConnelL [1835- 

1839, Melbourne resigned. The maladroitness of 
Wellington and Peel in insisting on the dismissal of 
the Queen's personal attendants, indeed, immedi- 
ately restored him to office, and gave to his admin- 
istration a faint gleam of popularity ; but everybody 
saw that the downfall of the Whigs was only a quest- 
ion of time. Once more the Municipal Bill was re- 
jected by the Lords, and nothing, O'Connell wrote 
bitterly, remained for Ireland but Repeal. The ad- 
mission was wrung reluctantly from him. He had 
no longer any hope of being able to agitate the ques- 
tion successfully. His *' Precursor " experiment had 
failed. The people had declined to answer to his 
summons. Repeal appeared to have lost all interest 
for them. Old age was stealing on him fast ; do- 
mestic affairs troubled him ; he was oppressed with 
debt, and the streams which supplied the "Tribute " 
seemed drying at their sources. 

"" I am, I confess," he wrote confidentially to Fitzpat- 
rick in August, 1839, "very unhappy. I look upon my- 
self in danger of ruin. The country is plainly tired out 
of my claims. 1 am, indeed unhappy. . . . I do not 
believe I will long survive the blow I apprehend from 
the desertion of me by the country at large. It weighs 
upon my heart and interferes with my health. . . . 
At my time of life, mental agony \% poisonous. . . . God 
help me ! What shall I do ? I think of giving up my in- 
come, save an annuity of a small sum to myself and my 
two sons, and going, if I am received, to Clongowes, 
to spend the rest of my life there. I want a period of re- 
treat to think of nothing but eternity. I sigh when I 
look at the present agitated aspect of affairs, foreign and 



1840] Ireland under Thomas Drummond. 319 

domestic, and vainly think that, if Ireland thought fit to 
support me, I might still be useful ; but it is plain I have 
worn out my claim on the people. ... I am, I believe, 
on the verge of illness — the illness of despondency ; but 
it is clear I have no one to blame but myself. I hope 
against hope ; that is, there is a lurking expectation about 
me of relief, which my more sober judgment tells me can- 
not come. Sometimes my hand shakes as I write." 

His success in securing the rejection of the Bank 
of Ireland Bill, and thereby inflicting a defeat on 
" the very worst of the Orange confederacies," af- 
forded him some consolation, and under the influ- 
ence of Fitzpatrick's cheery letter, the fit of gloom 
passed slowly away. An invitation to address the 
Liberals of the West Riding of Cork at Bandon, in 
December, revived his hopes of effecting a union 
between the Protestants and Catholics, and his hearty 
reception at the Anti-Corn-Law banquet in Man- 
chester, on January 13, 1840, was a refreshing token 
of his undiminished popularity in England. The 
introduction of Stanley's Registration Bill, by giving 
him a foretaste of what might be expected from the 
Tories, completed the work of recovery. " The 
Bill," he wrote, "" shall not and cannot pass, but Ire- 
land must be roused." He sent instructions to Fitz- 
patrick to get up a great meeting in Easter week, 
and on 1 8th April founded the Repeal Association. 




CHAPTER XIV. 

REPEAL AGITATION. 

1840- 1843. 

THE start was not encouraging. The great room 
of the Corn Exchange, capable of accommo- 
dating five hundred persons, was distressingly 
empty when O'Connell, after allowing an extra half- 
hour to elapse, rose at the request of the chairman, 
John O'Neill of Fitzwilliam Square, — a wealthy and 
patriotic Protestant merchant who, having assisted 
as a volunteer in the victory of 1782, was devoting 
his declining years in trying to recover for Ireland 
that position of independence she had lost through 
the Act of Union, — to explain the objects for which 
he had caused the meeting to be summoned. He 
rose, he said, with a deep sense of the awful im- 
portance of the step he was about to propose to 
the Irish people, and with a full knowledge of the 
difificulties by which they were surrounded, and the 
obstacles with which they had to contend. They 
were about to enter on a struggle which would only 
terminate when ample justice had been done to Ire- 
land by placing her on an equality with her sister 

320 



[1840-1843] Repeal Agitation. 321 

country, or by the establishment of their legislative 
independence. They commenced under auspices 
that might appear to afford little prospect of ulti- 
mate success. They would be laughed at and de- 
rided on all sides ; sneered at by friends who believed 
everything to be impracticable ; and opposed by ma- 
lignant enemies delighted to find any opportunity of 
manifesting their hostility. But no matter. They 
had been derided and laughed at before, when they 
set about the accomplishment of that great moral 
revolution which had won religious freedom for them- 
selves and others. They remembered the small ori- 
gin of the Catholic Association, its progress and its 
triumph. They were assembled to take part in 
proceedings that would be memorable in the history 
of their country. But to this purpose they must 
be up and stirring. They must not forget the story 
of the fellow who, when the wheel of his cart stuck 
in the mud, pi-ayed to Jupiter to help him. " You 
lazy rascal," said his godship, " put your shoulder to 
the wheel, and get along out of that." There was 
nothing else for them but to help themselves, and 
help themselves, with the aid of Heaven, they would. 
The Convention Act, rendering representation by 
delegation illegal, being still in force, the machinery 
of the old Catholic Association sufficed for working 
the new movement. It was composed of three 
classes — Volunteers contributing ^10; Members 
paying an annual subscription of ;^i ; and Repealers 
contributing one penny a month, or one shilling in 
the year. These last formed the backbone of the 
whole enterprise. The progress of the Association 



32 2 Daniel O' Connell. [1840- 

was at first slow and uncertain. This was to be ex- 
pected. For so long as the Parliamentary session 
required O'Connell's presence in London, regular 
and energetic agitation was out of the question. 
Naturally those who expected a sudden upheaval of 
the country were disappointed ; but O'Connell pro- 
fessed himself quite satisfied with the progress that 
was being made. Whatever doubts he may have 
had as to the success of the experiment, he kept them 
to himself. In public he was calm and confident. 
His language was that of buoyant youth. To hear 
him speak, to watch the deliberateness with which he 
formed his plans, one would have imagined that, in- 
stead of having sixty-five, he had only twenty-five 
years behind him. One thing was in his favour. He 
was in earnest. People, he said, had only to find that 
out, and the movement would spread like fire before 
the wind. The result justified his confidence. 

Meanwhile, the Whigs still managed to retain 
ofifice, and though death had robbed Ireland in the 
early spring of the year of that ** tam cari capitis," 
Thomas Drummond, the result of the session was 
not altogether unsatisfactory. Not only had Stan- 
ley's insidious proposal to limit the elective franchise 
in Ireland been, for the nonce, frustrated, but the 
Lords, tired out, apparently, with the pertinacity 
with which they were assailed, had at last consented 
to pass an emaciated Municipal Reform Bill. Re- 
turning to Ireland about the middle of July, O'Con- 
nell at once resumed the work of agitation. He was 
fortunate enough to secure the adhesion of the Cath- 
olic Archbishop of Tuam, and with his assistance 



1843] Repeal Agitation. 323 

successfully launched the Repeal cause in Connaught. 
The circle of agitation widened gradually, and feel- 
ing that he might safely enjoy a month's recreation 
with his beagles, he proceeded to Darrynane about 
the latter end of August, leaving the management 
of the Association temporarily in the hands of its 
Secretary, T. M. Ray, and his son John. 

Never since the death of his wife had Darrynane 
been so welcome to him as it was at this time ; never 
had the air of his mountain home seemed more ex- 
hilarating ; never the music of his beagles sweeter. 
The fresh sea breezes, the open-air exercise, were like 
medicine to him. Under their combined influence 
his mind recovered tone, his step some of its old 
elasticity. The feeling of despondency, which had of 
late years weighed upon him like a pall, gave way to 
a more hopeful view of things in general, and when 
the ail-too short vacation drew to a close it found 
him once more ready for the turmoil of political 
strife. He had arranged to address a mass-meeting 
at Cork on 5th October. The day of his departure 
came. He was up at six o'clock. From Darrynane 
to Sheen is ten miles, as the crow flies. He hunted 
the whole distance on foot, and bidding his dogs and 
retainers adieu, proceeded alone to Killarney. There 
he met O'Neill Daunt by appointment, and in his 
company completed the remainder of the journey 
to Cork. Never had Daunt found him a more agree- 
able companion. At almost every turn of the road 
something would occur to arrest his attention and to 
suggest an anecdote. Occasionally, when both re- 
lapsed into silence he would break it, revealing the 



324 Daniel O' Connell. [1840- 

current of his thoughts by repeating one of his fa- 
vourite hymns — 

" Lauda Sion salvatorem 
Lauda Ducem et Pastorem," etc. 

or the one beginning 

" Stabat Mater Dolorosa 
Juxta crucem lachrymosa 

Dum pendebat fiHus." 

As they approached Cork a vast concourse of peo- 
ple had assembled to welcome him at George the 
Fourth's Bridge, which spans the Lee about a mile 
to the west of the city. In their desire to honour 
him they would fain have taken the horses from the 
carriage in order to drag it themselves into Cork, 
and it was with no little difficulty that O'Connell 
compelled them to desist from their purpose. " No ! 
no ! no ! " he exclaimed. '* I never will let men do 
the business of horses if I can help it ! Don't touch 
that harness, you vagabonds ! I am trying to ele- 
vate your position, and I will not permit you to de- 
grade yourselves." 

The meeting in Batty's Circus was a great success, 
nor was it in the opinion of his hearers any dispar- 
agement to O'Connell's speech that it was redolent 
of Darrynane. A London journalist had derisively 
compared the Repeal cry to the cry of the Darry- 
nane beagles. " Aye," retorted O'Connell, ** but 
the fellow made a better hit than he intended, for 
my beagles never cease their cry until they catch 
their game." Next day he and Daunt proceeded 
to Limerick. On the road they were accosted 



1843] Repeal Agitation. 325 

by a beggar, who supported his demand for alms 
by claiming personal acquaintance with the Lib- 
erator. "But, my good man, I never saw you 
before." "Sure," returned the applicant, "that's 
not what your honour's son would say, for he got 
me a place in Glasnevin Cemetery, only I had n't 
the luck to keep it." " Then, indeed, you were 
strangely unlucky," rejoined O'Connell, laughing, 
" for those who have places in cemeteries generally 
keep them." Shortly before reaching Limerick, 
they were met by a procession of ship-carpen- 
ters who had arranged a sort of aquatic fete in 
his honour. The idea of meeting Neptune on 
the dusty highway tickled O'Connell's fancy, and, 
entering into the spirit of the comedy, he expressed 
in appropriate language his high sense of " the con- 
descending courtesy of the illustrious monarch of 
the deep." From Limerick, where he was enter- 
tained at a public banquet in the theatre, and made 
a powerful appeal for support to the patriotism of 
his audience by alluding to the history of " the 
city of the violated treaty," he continued his way 
to Ennis. Here he addressed another large repeal 
gathering. From Ennis he proceeded to Dublin, 
which he reached on the nth. Three days after- 
wards there was a great provincial meeting at Kil- 
kenny — the first of the " Precursor Monsters," 
as the meetings held at the time were afterwards 
dubbed. Daunt calculated that two hundred thou- 
sand persons were present on Croker's Hill ; but John 
O'Connell, who occupied the position of chairman, 
placed the number, probably with greater exactitude. 



326 Daniel O' Connell. [1840- 

at eighty thousand. It was a bleak, windy day, and 
the chairman's teeth chattered in his head ; but the 
enthusiasm of O'Connell's Hsteners kept them warm, 
and they were well rewarded for their patience by 
hearing one of the most eloquent speeches he ever 
delivered. A fortnight later there was another 
meeting at Waterford, followed by one next day at 
Carrick-on-Suir : after which, O'Connell again re- 
turned to Darrynane. 

So far the Repeal movement had not proved as 
successful as he had either hoped or expected. But 
the general apathy of the country did not dis- 
courage him. He had, as he said, nailed his colours 
to the mast and meant to stick by them. The ex- 
citement of the agitation did him good. His health 
was better than it had been for a long time past ; for 
the nonce, thanks to Fitzpatrick, he had forgotten all 
about his debts, and looked forward to the future 
with all the buoyant hopefulness of youth. On 21st 
December he was back again in Dublin, speaking the 
same evening at a Charity Dinner. His energy, his 
confidence, his patience, seemed boundless. To one 
who, remembering the Catholic Association, had hap- 
pened at this time to look into that long, low, and 
badly lighted room in which the Committee trans- 
acted its business, it might have seemed, at first 
sight, as if the clock of time had come to a stand- 
still. Nothing appeared to have changed. Now, as 
then, it was the same man, only older, stouter, and 
more careworn, that directed its proceedings, no one 
dreaming of questioning his right or capability to 
do so. 



1843] Repeal Agitation. 327 

" Amid the best and noblest of our isle 

There was the same majestic form, the same heart-kin- 
dling smile ; 

But grief was on that princely brow — for others still he 
mourn'd. 

He gazed upon poor fetter'd slaves, and his heart within 
him burn'd : 

And he vowed before the captive's God to break the 
captive's chain, 

To bind the broken heart and set the bondsman free 
again. 

And fit was he our chief to be, in triumph or in need, 

Who never wrong'd his deadliest foe in thought, or word, 
or deed." 

New Year's Day, 1841, was celebrated in appro- 
priate fashion by an open-air meeting at Howth. To 
the fishermen, who formed the bulk of his audience, 
O'Connell promised that when they recovered their 
national parliament the price of fish would rise. 
"You'll have to steal more dogs, then, to make 
buoys of," said he jocularly, alluding to an alleged 
malpractice among them. The remark was received 
with roars of laughter. *' See how he 's up to that 
same ! " exclaimed an old salt, in admiration at the 
apparent omniscience of the Counsellor. The day 
following, a Dublin newspaper announced under the 
heading, " Keep Moving " : 

" Mr. O'Connell stands pledged to the following en- 
gagements : To attend the Repeal Association on the 
4th ; to preside at an Orphan Charity Dinner on the 5th ; 
to agitate for Repeal in Mullingar on the 7th ; in Cork 
on the nth, and in Dungarvan on the 13th ; to attend a 



328 Daniel O' Connell. [1840- 

Reform meeting in Dublin on the 15th, and in Belfast on 
the 1 8th ; on the 19th to attend a Repeal dinner in the 
same town ; on the 21st and 22nd a Reform meeting and 
dinner at Leeds ; on the 23rd a Reform meeting at 
Leicester ; and on the 26th to take his seat in the House 
of Commons, attired in his grey frieze Repeal coat." 

He kept his engagement to the letter. Many of 
his friends, fearing for his personal safety, did their 
best to dissuade him from going to Belfast and beard- 
ing the Orangemen in their stronghold. Their fears, 
as O'Connell found, were not without reason. As he 
passed through Lisburn a day before he was ex- 
pected, under the assumed name and character of 
C. A. Charles, a celebrated ventriloquist, his atten- 
tion was arrested by a placard, headed in large 
letters, '' O'Connell's Insult to the North," remind- 
ing the good " Protestants " of the town that exactly 
two centuries had elapsed since Phelim O'Neill, with 
his rabble rout, had been defeated by a few of Lord 
Conway's troops in Castle Street, and calling on them 
to treat O'Connell and his Kailrunt infantry " to a 
thunder of Northern Repeal " that would astonish 
the brewers of sedition and treason, and put to rout 
his " darlint pisintry." Under the direction of 
" Derry Dawson " and the Rev. Dr. Cook — the 
Dr. Kane of that day — the Orangemen certainly 
succeeded in making Belfast "hot" for him. In 
anticipation of a riot. Government had drafted five 
companies of foot, two troops of horse, and two 
thousand extra policemen into the town for the pur- 
pose of protecting his meeting ; but their presence 
did not prevent an Orange mob from smashing the 



1843] Repeal Agitation. 329 

windows of the hall in which he held his Temperance 
Soiree, and from paying a similar compliment to the 
hotel where he had taken up his quarters. He 
escaped without personal injury ; but the experi- 
ment of assailing the Orangemen in their stronghold 
was one that he was not tempted to repeat. 

In consequence of a direct vote of want of confi- 
dence in his administration, Lord Melbourne dis- 
solved Parliament in June. O'Connell, who had long 
foreseen the event, took a pessimistic view of the situ- 
ation. *' If the Tories," he wrote, *' carry the repre- 
sentation of Ireland, and, in particular, of Dublin, they 
will totally deprive us of the benefit of the corporate 
reform." The result of the general election went 
far to confirm his anticipations. He himself lost his 
seat for Dublin, and had to take refuge at Cork. Of his 
once famous " tail," hardly a dozen obtained re-elec- 
tion. On the whole, however, the Whigs managed to 
hold their own in Ireland, and O'Connell's election 
as Lord Mayor of the reformed corporation, on ist 
November, completely effaced the bad effects of his 
rejection as M.P. He was the first Roman Catholic 
that had held the office in all the hundred and fifty 
years that had elapsed since the Revolution. Natur- 
ally, to those of his own creed his capture of this 
hitherto impregnable fortress of Orangeism was a 
matter of infinite satisfaction. His enemies, of 
course, expressed their certain conviction that he 
would misuse his office for political purposes. But it 
must be confessed that his conduct, during his tenure 
of it, furnished little justification for the assertion. 
Replying to a question put to him shortly before the 



330 Daniel O'Connell. [1840- 

election by Alderman Boyce, as to how he would act 
in his capacity of Lord Mayor upon the Repeal 
question, he had pledged himself that in his capacity 
of Lord Mayor no one should be able to discover 
from his conduct what his politics were, and of what 
shade were the religious tenets he held. In his in- 
dividual capacity, however, he was a Repealer — to 
his last breath, a Repealer — because he was thor- 
oughly, honestly, and conscientiously, though per- 
haps mistakenly, convinced that the repeal of the 
Union would be fraught with the richest benefits to 
their common country. His language to the crowd 
that cheered him to his house, after the election, was 
couched in the same strain. They had that day won 
a great and memorable victory: they had won it 
without riot, tumult, or bloodshed. Who should say 
in the face of it that they would not achieve the res- 
toration of their own Parliament in a similar way ? 
Meantime he called on them to enjoy their triumph 
in a manner worthy of the day, and to let their de- 
meanour be characterised by kindliness, beneficence, 
and charity to all men, giving thanks to an all-boun- 
teous Providence for having permitted them to see 
the realisation of such blessings for their long-afflicted 
country. 

He himself set them an admirable example. '* It 
amuses me much," he said, " to think that on the 
very first day of my sitting I had to make a decree 
against a priest." But more significant of his desire 
to conciliate his opponents even than his impartiality 
on the bench was the arrangement he effected, by 
which Catholics and Protestants were to hold the 



1843] Repeal Agitation. 331 

mayoral chair each year in alternate succession. 
Green Street court presented an animated scene 
when he took his seat for the first time on the mag- 
isterial bench. He was much amused at the diffi- 
culty the tip-staves had in keeping it clear for 
business. '* In Cork, I remember," he said, '' the 
crier trying to disperse the crowd by exclaiming: 
'AH ye blackguards that isn't lawyers quit the 
coort.' " For himself he felt the honour conferred 
on him intensely, though the execution of his office 
entailed much personal discomfort and, what he de- 
plored most of all, compelled him to forego his usual 
visit to Darrynane. When it was known at Darry- 
nane that pressure of business would prevent his 
leaving Dublin, and that that year there would be no 
hare hunting, the grief of his retainers was inex- 
pressible. '' There was," his son John wrote, " quite 
a scene upon the mountain yesterday when Denis 
McCruachan told the huntsmen you could not come. 
Two or three of them, led by Curramac, fairly sat 
down and cried. . . . There are curses * not loud, but 
deep ' on all corporations that ever existed." 

The Loyal National Repeal Association continued 
to meet as usual in the Corn Exchange ; but O'Con- 
nell's resolution to act impartially in his capacity of 
Lord Mayor led to a practical suspension of the 
agitation during his year of office. His resolution 
did not, however, prevent his attending to his par- 
liamentary duties. He was in his seat at the com- 
mencement of the session on 3rd February, 1842, 
and remained in London till Parliament rose in Au- 
gust. But, with the exception of Peel's income-tax 



332 Daniel O' Connell. [1840- 

proposal, which he combated on the ground that 
it was essentially a war tax, advising the substi- 
tution for it of a legacy duty on real property, and 
the debate on the Distress of the Country, the pro- 
ceedings of Parliament interested him only slightly. 
It was during the latter debate that, in reply to a 
taunt thrown out from the ministerial bench that the 
Opposition, while criticising the policy of the Govern- 
ment, had offered no practical suggestion for the 
relief of the nation, he uttered the memorable words : 

" There is a plan. The simplest housewife could adopt 
it. The people are hungry. Let them eat. They said 
there was no food. Let them tell him no such thing. 
There were at the moment he spoke upwards of a million 
and a half quarters of wheat lying in bond, waiting until 
higher prices became high enough for the landlords to 
allow the people to be fed." 

For some time he hoped that between their Corn 
Law and Budget proposals the ministry would fall to 
the ground ; but as he saw the danger safely tided 
over and the end of his mayoralty coming in view, 
he began to make preparations for renewing the 
agitation in Ireland. 

" So soon as I arrive in Ireland," he wrote to Fitz- 
patrick, on 6th August, " I will publish my address to my 
own constituents ; all I desire is, to make them, clergy 
and laity, understand the real position of public affairs. 
I want every Irishman to be convinced of this truth : 
that there is nothing worth looking for save the power 
of governing ourselves, and of husbanding our national 
resources by the restoration of our domestic legislature. 
Have, I repeat it, prepared a list of all the parishes in 



1843] Repeal Agitation. 333 

Leinster, with the names of the clergy of each parish, 
and of every layman therein, who shall have taken, at 
any bygone time, an active part in the Repeal agitation. 
It is by detailed and persevering exertions that public 
opinion will recover its tone and energy in Ireland." 

A few days afterwards he landed at Kingstown. 
His son John happened at the time to be staying at 
Monkstown, near Dunleary, for the sake of the sea 
air, and, paying him a visit there in company with 
O'Neill Daunt, the latter thought he had never seen 
him more lively and animated, or more disposed to 
enjoy himself and to contribute to the merriment of 
others than he was on this occasion. Besides O'Con- 
nell, his son John, and Daunt, there were present the 
Secretary of the Association, T. M. Ray, and Tom 
Steele, of Clare election fame, shortly to be promoted 
'' Head Pacificator " of the Association. Naturally, 
the subject uppermost in the minds of all of them 
was Repeal. None of them were satisfied with the 
slow progress the agitation was making ; but the 
difficulty was to find some means of stimulating it. 
After discussing the situation for some time, O'Con- 
nell suggested to his companions that they should 
each undertake a separate mission for the purpose of 
preaching up Repeal in the three provinces of Lein- 
ster, Munster, and Connaught. The suggestion was 
readily adopted, and on 12th September the three 
" Repeal Inspectors," as they were dubbed, John 
O'Connell, Ray, and Daunt, set out from Dublin on 
their respective missions. Meanwhile, O'Connell was 
enjoying himself to the top of his bent at Darrynane. 
It was a delightful autumn ; his pack was in splendid 



334 Daniel O'Connell. [1840- 

condition, killing, as he boasted, with ease six or sev- 
en hares a day ; and no one, seeing him at their heels 
clearing stone dykes and bog-holes with more agility 
than many a younger man, could have believed that 
he had entered on his sixty-seventh year. In October 
he was recalled to Dublin. His year of office as 
Lord Mayor had almost expired, and he rejoiced at 
the prospect of being shortly relieved from its multi- 
plied annoyances. "" A fortnight more," he said, with 
a laugh, " and I shall have the privilege of knocking 
down any man who calls me 'My Lord.'" But 
what a fortnight it was ! Thirteen days, the time 
limited by statute, in which to revise the burgess- 
roll of the city, containing eighteen thousand names 
each to be severally investigated ! The thing was 
impossible, and wagers were freely made against his 
being able to accomplish it. To the astonishment of 
everybody, he succeeded five minutes before the 
time had elapsed. It was a herculean task ; but 
O'Connell felt confident of his ability to perform it, 
and even found time for a passing joke. 

The name of Myles Magrath being called, one of 
the collectors was asked what profession Mr. Magrath 
belonged to ? 

Collector — " He is crier in the Court of Con- 
science." 

Lord Mayor — ** Mr. Magrath would have to cry 
a long time, indeed, in that court before conscience 
would answer his calls there." 

A gentleman complained that his name had been 
written Smith, and not, as it should have been, 
Smyth, on the roll. 



1843] Repeal Agitation. 335 

Lord Mayor — '* You wish to have your name 
spelt Smyth, and not Smith ? " 

Mr. Smyth — *' Exactly, my Lord. You were 
under the impression that I was S-m-i-t-hy and when 
remonstrated with to spell it S-in-y-t-h, you are re- 
ported to have said to Mr. Stokes that you would not 
knock out my i to please him ; that I was a smith 
at all events, and that I might Jiaminer aivay. Pray 
have the error rectified." 

Lord Mayor (laughing)—*' Oh, certainly. Sir. I 
am sorry that you were occasioned any uneasiness. 
We will knock out your i, since you desire it, and 
we '11 give you a y with a sweeping tail as long as 
my own." 

The first of November came, and O'Connell, having 
surrendered the insignia of his ofifice to his successor, 
Alderman George Roe, and congratulated the citi- 
zens of Dublin on having been able to select for 
their chief magistrate a man of such high character, 
'* who, in a country where party spirit unfortunately 
ran to too high a pitch, had been so singularly fortu- 
nate as to conciliate to himself the good wishes and 
good opinions of all classes indiscriminately," re- 
turned to Darrynane. Meanwhile, the missionary 
efforts of the three " Repeal Inspectors," Daunt, 
Ray, and John O'Connell were beginning to bear 
fruit. Not only did the Repeal Rent, in conse- 
quence of their exertions, take what was then con- 
sidered a great jump from £d^.o to ;^I50 a week, but 
they were fortunate in removing much of the in- 
grained suspicion existing in the popular mind as to 
the sincerity of the agitation. Still it had to be 



33^ Daniel O' ConiiclL [1840- 

confessed that the progress being made was not 
commensurate with the energy expended over it, 
and each day made it clearer that unless some means 
were devised of stimulating it, the movement would, 
like its predecessors, expire of inanition. 

In this dilemma all eyes were directed to Darry- 
nane where, in his retirement, O'Connell was anx- 
iouslypondering over the situation. Light at last 
broke in upon him. On 2ist January, 1843, ^^^ came 
up to Dublin, and a few days later announced his 
intention of moving in the Dublin Corporation on 
2 1st February a resolution afifirmatory of the right of 
Ireland to a resident Parliament. The words of the 
resolution recall to mind the famous Declaration of 
Rights submitted by Grattan to the Irish House of 
Commons on 19th April, 1780. Sixty years and more 
had passed away since the Irish Parliament had con- 
firmed Grattan's resolution. In 1843, Ii'eland pos- 
sessed not even the form of a Parliament to which 
such an appeal could be addressed. What little 
spark of national life still survived existed only in 
her corporations. During the debate on the Muni- 
cipal Corporations Bill, O'Connell had promised to 
blow that spark into a flame, and out of every cor- 
poration to create a normal school for peaceful agita- 
tion in Ireland. The time had come for him to 
keep his promise and put his theory to the test. The 
postponement of the motion for a week added an 
extra fillip to popular expectation. On 28th Feb- 
ruary, from an early hour in the morning, William 
Street was thronged with people. It was eleven 
o'clock before the Lord Mayor arrived, and when 



1843] Repeal Agitation. 337 

O'Connell shortly afterwards rose to address the 
meeting, the Hall was crowded to suffocation. The 
cheers that greeted him showed unmistakably on 
which side the sympathies of his audience were. 
But he had not, he said, come there to convince 
those whom experience had already convinced by 
the irresistible evidence of their senses. He was 
there to address his arguments to the entire Irish 
nation — to the British people — to the civilized 
world. He had nine propositions to demonstrate: 

First : The capability and capacity of the Irish na- 
tion for an independent legislature. 

Second : The perfect right of Ireland to have a do- 
mestic Parliament. 

Third : That that right was fully established by the 
transactions of 1782. 

Fourth : That the most beneficial effects to Ireland 
resulted from her parliamentary independence. 

Fifth : The utter incompetence of the Irish Parlia- 
ment to annihilate the Irish Constitution by 
the Union. 

Sixth : That the Union was no contract or bargain ; 
that it was carried by the greatest corruption 
and bribery, added to force, fraud, and terror. 

Seventh: That the Union produced the most disas- 
trous results to Ireland. 

Eighth : That the Union can be abolished by peace- 
able constitutional means, without the violation 
of law, and without the destruction of property 
and life. 



T,^S Daniel O' ConnelL [1840- 

Ninth : That the most salutary results, and none 
other, must arise from a repeal of the Union. 

He spoke for four hours. His speech is, by gen- 
eral consent, regarded as the ablest plea ever uttered 
on behalf of the repeal of the Union. It possessed 
all the merits and none of the defects of that which 
he had delivered before the House of Commons in 
1834. It was vigorous, well arranged, and well 
spoken. The task of replying to it devolved on a 
young Conservative barrister of great promise — 
Isaac Butt, whose subsequent career as leader of the 
national party furnished the best refutation of the 
arguments he employed on this occasion. Other 
speakers took part in the debate. On the third day 
the corporation divided : forty-five voting in fa- 
vour of the resolution, fifteen against it. Almost as 
important as the matter of the debate was the man- 
ner in which it was conducted. If the Dublin Cor- 
poration could discuss the repeal of the Union with 
so much candour, intelligence, and courtesy, what 
reason was there, it was pertinently asked, for sup- 
posing that an Irish House of Commons must 
necessarily resemble a bear garden ? 

The effect of the Corporation Debate was magi- 
cal. The agitation, which had hitherto hung fire, 
broke at once into full activity. The Repeal Rent 
which, up to that time, had found its way into the 
treasury of the Association in driblets and by circuit- 
ous routes, now began to flow in a continuous stream. 
In February, for the whole month, it had only 
amounted to about i^300 ; in May it had risen to 
over ;^2000 a week, and by the end of the year it 



^843] Repeal Agitation. 339 

reached a grand total of ;^48,ooo. So rapidly did 
the number of the Repealers increase that, in March, 
the great room in the Corn Exchange was found 
wholly inadequate to accommodate those seeking 
admission, and on the 30th of that month O'Con- 
nell laid the foundation stone of a new building, 
capable of accommodating between four and five 
thousand persons, on which he bestowed the name 
of Conciliation Hall. As the movement grew in 
volume, the machinery controlling it underwent a 
rapid development. The staff of twelve or fifteen 
persons which, at the beginning of 1843, had suf- 
ficed to work the Association, increased during the 
course of the year to forty-eight, and continued at 
that number till nearly the middle of 1 845 . The As- 
sociation itself met weekly on Mondays. It had its 
committees for general and financial purposes, con- 
sisting of about one hundred and fifty members, 
for parhamentary business, for manufactures, griev- 
ances, poor-law abuses, extermination, employment, 
etc. Everything was conducted with the greatest 
regularity and business-like precision, under the man- 
agement of its indefatigable Secretary, Thomas 
Mathew Ray. Each day brought from fifty to some- 
times over two hundred letters, which had to be 
read, filed, and copied, their contents to be noted, 
and answers written to them. There were cash- 
receipt and cash-payment books for sums ranging 
from several hundreds of pounds to a few pence ; 
parochial ledgers alphabetically arranged for each 
county, containing all particulars relating to war- 
dens, committees, reports, repeal reading-rooms, etc. ; 



340 Daniel O' Connell. [1840- 

alphabetical list-books of volunteers, members, and 
wardens ; books of American contributors ; scrap- 
books, containing newspaper slips pasted in with 
reports of every occurrence, remotely as well as inti- 
mately connected with the movement : forming, in 
effect, a complete political history of Ireland from 
1839 to 1849. Fo^ t^^ purpose of keeping the 
movement within constitutional bounds, a Repeal po- 
lice force presided over by Head Pacificator Thomas 
Steele was established ; arbitration courts opened 
for the arranging local disputes and preventing out- 
bursts of agrarian outrage ; and Repeal wardens 
appointed in every parish to watch over the interests 
of the peasantry, to facilitate the collection of the 
Rent, and to attend to the circulation of newspapers 
recording the proceedings of the Association. 

Apart from the Repeal agitation proper, but aux- 
inary to it, and of the greatest importance in de- 
veloping and strengthening its operations, was the 
Temperance movement of Father Mathew, and the 
foundation of the Nation newspaper as the organ of 
the Young Ireland party. Of Father Mathew's Tem- 
perance movement which, starting in Cork towards 
the latter end of the thirties, extended with such 
rapidity that it soon embraced half the population of 
Ireland, it is not an exaggeration to say that it was 
one of the most stupendous moral revolutions the 
world has ever seen. Its effect on the Irish people, 
despite the opposition it encountered, was profound 
and lasting. From a nation of proverbially hard 
drinkers Ireland suddenly became a nation of sober 
men and women. 




FATHER MATHEW. 



1843] Repeal Agitation, 341 

*' Never," says the historian, " did warlike conqueror 
achieve a success comparable with that of this humble 
priest. Public houses were shut up, breweries and dis- 
tilleries thrown out of work, the consumption of whis- 
key decreased by one half. . . . Crime diminished 
with the decrease of drink, and even the Irish govern- 
ment formally acknowledged the benefits which temper- 
ance had conferred on Ireland." 

O'Connell was one of the first to welcome the 
movement, declaring, to the astonishment of Fitz- 
patrick, that Father Mathew was " entitled to the 
nation's gratitude beyond all other living men." 
Though not himself, apparently, a pledged teeto- 
taller, he showed by his conduct, in refraining more 
and more from the use of intoxicating liquors, his 
appreciation of the benefits of temperance, and the 
obligation placed upon him by his position of con- 
forming so far as in him lay to the newly awakened 
conscience of the nation in the matter. For Repeal 
the advantage of the Temperance movement was 
inestimable, in so far as it not only rendered possible 
those monster meetings, to which reference will pre- 
sently be made, which formed the glory and cul- 
mination of the agitation, but also gave to them 
a moral significance they would otherwise not have 
possessed. 

Of the Young Ireland movement, it is unfortun- 
ately impossible to speak in the same terms of 
unqualified approval. From its inception, through 
the foundation of the Nation newspaper in October, 
1842, it was essentially a literary movement. Its 
object was " to create and foster public opinion in 



342 Daniel O' Comiell. [1840- 

Ireland and make it racy of the soil." Of its found- 
ers, Thomas Davis, Charles Gavan Duffy, and John 
Dillon, it may at once be said that they were men 
whose genius and true nobility of character reflected 
lustre on the land of their birth. Patriots of unsul- 
lied fame, poets whose verse still makes the blood 
tingle, and the colour come and go, men of letters 
with well-stored minds and facile pens, they burned 
to rescue their country from the bondage of an intoler- 
able tyranny that was crushing out every feeling and 
aspiration of nationality. Born in the stormy times 
of the Catholic Emancipation agitation, they threw 
themselves with an ardour and enthusiasm into that 
of Repeal which threatened to carry all before it. 
Never had such success attended any effort of jour- 
nalism as that which fell to the lot of the Nation. 
Well written, well edited, well printed, it could 
hardly be produced in quantities sufficient to meet 
the demand for it. It was devoured, not read. The 
impetus the movement gave to Repeal, though 
hardly so great as they fancied, was unmistakable. 
Under its influence the hitherto unadorned cards of 
membership blossomed out into emblematic pictures, 
recalling the main incidents of Irish history, orna- 
mented with the portraits of heroes who would 
hardly have recognised themselves in the atmos- 
phere of idealism through which they were viewed. 
Dathi, and Brian Boroimhe, Ollamh Fodhla, and 
Aodh O'Neill were dragged out of their obscurity, 
cleansed from the accretion of Saxon aspersion that 
had gathered round them, and re-established on their 
pedestals of fame. One figure — more authentic 




THOMAS DAVIS. 

FROM DUFFY'S " LIFE OF THOMAS DAVIS. 



1843] Repeal Agitatioii. 343 

than any of them, Theobald Wolfe Tone — was 
conspicuous by his absence. The omission was a 
significant one, for no one was more constantly 
present to their thoughts, no one more potently the 
main factor in their speculations than Tone. He, 
far more than O'Connell, was their ideal of a political 
leader. For O'Connell they had, indeed, a certain 
amount of respect, mixed with a good deal of con- 
tempt. They despised his methods of agitation 
as vulgar, and directed to merely material ends. 
They spoke slightingly of men nurtured in " the 
feminine contests of the Bar." They hated the 
crooked and often dirty bypaths of political in- 
trigue. They loathed the parasites that battened on 
the Rent. They argued that passion and imagina- 
tion had won victories which reason and self-interest 
would have attempted in vain. The poet's pen, the 
soldier's sword, these were their weapons : the one 
to sow, the other to reap the harvest. O'Connell 
speedily recognised the drift of the Young Ireland 
propaganda, and at once, and most decidedly, dis- 
countenanced it. He had, all his life long, been 
preaching and practising the doctrine of constitu- 
tional agitation, and here, despite all his efforts, was 
the hydra of rebellion striking out its head again. 
It was irritating at the least. The danger of playing 
on the inflammable nature of the Irish peasant was 
too palpable to be overlooked. Unfortunately, his 
warning was despised, and after causing a split in 
the Association, and running a course that might 
have been predicted of it, the Young Ireland move- 
ment was quenched in the blood of an abortive 



344 Daniel O' Connell. [1840- 

insurrection. As yet, however, it was only poetry, 
and there was nothing to show that the divergence 
of view between Old and Young Ireland would be 
attended with any such disastrous consequences. 

Meanwhile Repeal was spreading like fire before 
the wind, as O'Connell predicted it would do when 
once the nation perceived he was in earnest. In or- 
der to fan it into a general conflagration, O'Connell, 
shortly after the Corporation Debate, announced 
his intention of holding a public meeting in each 
county in Ireland in turn. The first was held at 
Trim, in county Meath, on 19th March. The specta- 
cle of thirty thousand persons meeting in orderly 
array to protest against the Union, and to petition 
for its repeal, produced a profound effect on the pub- 
lic mind in Ireland and England. A month later a 
second meeting was held at MuUingar, in the neigh- 
bouring county of West Meath, where it was calcu- 
lated that at least one hundred thousand persons 
were present to listen to a Repeal address from 
O'Connell. The meaning of this second " monster," 
as it was dubbed by the Times, could not be 
mistaken. 



" See what it is to persevere," said O'Connell. " Last 
year — and, indeed, from the very commencement — I 
threw out state paper after state paper, demonstrating 
the evils of the Union, and for a time they seemed to 
fall dull and unheeded on the public ear. But now all 
men are alive, all are active, all are eager for success. I 
cast my bread upon the waters, and now after many 
days I have found it." 



1843] Repeal Agitation. 345 

He himself was indefatigable in his efforts "to keep 
up steam." 

During the spring and summer, accompanied by a 
numerous staff, he traversed the country almost 
without intermission. His energy was amazing. 
One day he was at Kells, the next at Drogheda. 
From Ennis he flew to Clonmel ; from Kilkenny to 
Skibereen ; from Skibereen to Athlone and Galway. 
Hardly a place of any importance, outside Ulster, 
was unvisited by him. All along his route the peo- 
ple turned out en masse to welcome him and by their 
contributions to give wings to the movement. On 
2 1st May there was another " monster " meeting at 
Cork, at which it was calculated that not less than 
five hundred thousand persons were present. The 
meeting was the Association's answer to Peel's 
threat to uphold the Union even at the risk of civil 
war. Alluding to the threat of force, O'Connell said : 

'* We are told that some desperate measures are to be 
taken for the suppression of public opinion upon the 
question of Repeal ; and that the Ministry have it in 
contemplation to bring in a coercive bill. They may 
annihilate the Constitution ; but to this I pledge myself : 
they shall have some trouble in doing so. I will go to 
the House of Commons for the purpose of opposing their 
bill ; I will resist the bill to the utmost of my power as 
long as it is not law. When it becomes a statute, I will 
obey it : I will obey every law, unless I can manage to 
drive a coach and six through it ; but I will discover 
some plan whereby the Irish people shall have the means 
of expressing their sentiments upon this vital question. 
Unless they gag me, I will find the means of speaking to 



34^ Daniel O' Connell. [1840- 

Ireland. . . . Friends may desert me, foes may 
threaten, but I will never forsake the path that I have 
proposed for myself. I will violate no law, I will out- 
rage no ordinance of man nor of Heaven ; but as long as 
there remains to me one inch of the Constitution on 
which lean place my footstep I will find some Archime- 
dean point whereon to plant the lever with which I will 
still uphold the fainting liberties of my country." 

The day following the Cork meeting, the Lord 
Lieutenant, Earl de Grey, putting his own construc- 
tion on Peel's declaration, renaoved O'Connell and 
Lord French from the magistracy of their respect- 
ive counties. As a protest against this high-handed 
and unconstitutional proceeding, Lord Cloncurry, 
Sir Richard Musgrave, Henry Grattan, Jr., Smith 
O'Brien, and other prominent Whigs, retired from 
the Commission of the Peace, with the result of 
swelling the ranks of Repeal with valuable recruits, 
extending the operation of the courts of arbitration, 
and sending the Rent up the following week to 
;^2200. But it was soon to appear that Peel's threat 
of force was not idly meant. On 29th May, the 
Irish Chief Secretary, Lord Eliot, introduced an 
Arms Bill, or, as it might with more propriety have 
been called, a Bill for disarming the Catholic peas- 
antry of Ireland, into the House of Commons. Its 
object was prospective and preventive, rather than 
retrospective and retaliatory. So far as the condi- 
tion of the country was concerned, it was absolutely 
uncalled for. The palpable injustice of it aroused 
the indignation of the opposition, and so strenuous 
was the resistance offered to it that August was 



1843] Repeal Agitation. 347 

drawing to a close before it received the royal assent. 
Encouraged by this unexpected diversion in his fa- 
vour, O'Connell pushed on the agitation with all his 
might. Monster meeting succeeded monster meet- 
ing in rapid succession, culminating in the ever 
memorable one at Tara, on i 5th August. 

Tuesday, the 15th of August, the Feast of the As- 
sumption of the Blessed Virgin in the Roman Catho- 
lic calendar, broke warm and bright. Dublin was 
astir from an early hour in the morning. Little 
crowds of people jostled one another good-humour- 
edly in the streets as they completed their prepara- 
tions for the day's excursion, or watched those of 
their more fortunate neighbours. Not a horse, not 
a car, not a vehicle of any shape or size, but had 
been hired to go that day to Tara. Windows and 
balconies filled with gaily-dressed women ; temper- 
ance bands parading the streets with banners, mak- 
ing a cheerful noise ; horsemen bearing long lances 
with pennons waving in the breeze, gave animation 
to the scene. The enthusiasm of the people was 
unbounded : for had not the Liberator promised that 
that year should witness the Repeal of the Union, 
and the restoration of their native Parliament ? 
The Repeal wardens were at their posts directing 
everything with the greatest precision. It was nine 
o'clock when O'Connell, having breakfasted with 
some friends in Baggot Street, entered his carriage 
and gave the signal to start. Cheer upon cheer rent 
the air as the procession, passing through the main 
streets and across the Liffey, wound its way along 
the great northern road past Phcenix Park in the 



348 Daniel O' Connell. [1840- 

direction of Dunshaughlin. Of the horsemen in at- 
tendance, it was calculated that the number did not 
fall short of ten thousand, and it was afterwards dis- 
covered that toll had been paid that day at Cabragh, 
Phibsborough, and Blanchardstown on thirteen hun- 
dred vehicles. This was only one contingent. From 
all other points of the compass similar contingents 
were at the same time converging on Tara. 

For days before, the Hill had presented tokens of 
unwonted activity. In the very centre of the top- 
most level of it joiners had been at work erecting a 
mighty platform for the speakers. By consent of 
the bishop of the diocese, numerous altars had been 
raised for the celebration of the mass. Repealers 
from distant counties — from far-off Clare, from 
Longford and Galway, bringing their provisions with 
them — had been bivouacking on it, some of them for 
nights together, under the open sky. Tara of the 
kings] What memories the place awakened in the 
minds of many who that day visited it ! — memo- 
ries of the ancient past mingling with those of times 
quite recent. From OUamh Fodhla, who 

" first ordained 
The great assembly, where the nobles met, 
And priests and poets and philosophers. 
To make new laws, and to correct the old 
And to advance the honour of his country " — 
from St. Patrick, storming the citadel of paganism 
under the banner of the Cross of Christ, down to 
the Rebellion of 1898 and the "Croppies' Grave," 
on which the wild geranium with its little pike-head 
blossom, streaked with crimson, blows like Nature's 



1843] Repeal Agitation, 349 

apologue in sweet profusion. Standing on the top 
of the Hill, it was a solemn and impressive sight 
that met the eye that August morning. For miles 
around the country was black with human beings 
wending their way to the place of meeting. Close 
on a million persons, it was calculated, had come 
together ; but calculation was out of the question. 
As far as the eye could reach, nothing could be seen 
but compact masses of people moving towards the 
central point. Not less impressive than the number 
of them was their orderly demeanour, the perfect 
confidence reposed by each in the integrity of his 
neighbour, the absence of rowdyism of every de- 
scription, the gentle courtesy displayed towards the 
women and children, of whom there were thousands 
present. The deep devotion with which, bareheaded 
and on bended knees, they listened to the ministra- 
tions of their religion ; the savour of incense wafted 
through the air from a hundred censers ; the silence 
broken only by the silver tinkle of the sacring-bell 
and the low hum of the priests' voices, added sol- 
emness to the scene, and gave to the demonstration 
the appearance of a religious service. 

From Dublin to Tara is some twenty-four miles. 
It was high noon before O'Connell's carriage reached 
the outskirts of the meeting. A burst of music from 
the assembled temperance bands announced his ar- 
rival, and from the whole multitude there went up 
one tremendous shout of welcome. It was the 
crowning day of O'Connell's life. Victories he had 
won before — victories in the Senate House, and in 
the Law Courts ; but never such an one as this. 



350 Daniel G Connell. [1840-1843] 

Before such a demonstration as this, all fornaer 
achievements seemed to dwindle to nothing, and he 
might well have been forgiven for thinking that they 
had that day reached a turning-point in their na- 
tional history : that after long years of suffering and 
oppression, Ireland was once more to become a na- 
tion. And the means by which the victory had 
been attained were as important as — ten times more 
important than — the victory itself. All his Hfe long 
he had been teaching his countrymen that constitu- 
tional victories must be won by constitutional means ; 
that for them no political change whatsoever was 
worth the shedding of a single drop of human blood ; 
and his countrymen seemed to have learned the les- 
son. If they had so, the future was full of hope for 
them and for their children's children. His speech 
was a paean of triumph. Was it of him, then, the 
poet wrote? — 

*' Once to my sight the giant thus was given, 
Walled by wide air and roofed by boundless heaven ; 
Beneath his feet the human ocean lay, 
And wave on wave flowed into space away. 
Methought no clarion could have sent its sound 
E'en to the centre of the hosts around ; 
And, as I thought, rose the sonorous swell. 
As from some church-tower swings the silvery bell ; 
Aloft and clear from airy tide to tide 
It glided easy, as a bird may glide. 
To the last verge of that vast audience sent 
It played with each wild passion as it went." 




H«tt 



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TARA HILL. 

FROM PETRIE'S "ANTIQUITIES OF TARA HILL." 



CHAPTER XV. 

COLLAPSE OF THE REPEAL AGITATION. 
1843-1847- 

CONSCIOUS of his own intention not to vio- 
late the law, O'Connell watched the opera- 
tions of Government in flooding the country 
with troops, strengthening old and erecting new fort- 
ifications, half amusedly, half contemptuously. It 
always takes two to make a quarrel, and for himself 
he was determined, as he said, not to run his head 
against a stone wall. After Tara, several other large 
demonstrations were held, and it was resolved to 
wind up the series by a final " monster" at Clontarf. 
It was at Clontarf that Brian Boroimhe had expelled 
the Danes from Ireland in 1014. What fitter spot, it 
was asked, could be found for completing the expul- 
sion of another set of intruders ? The meeting was 
fixed to take place on Sunday, 8th October. It was 
well advertised, and people were beginning to flock 
thither from the more distant parts of the island, as 
well as from Liverpool, Glasgow, and other towns in 
England and Scotland, when suddenly, without a 
word of warning, Government issued a proclamation, 

351 



352 Daniel 0'Con7telL [1843- 

late in the afternoon of the day preceding the meet- 
ing, forbidding it. The situation was critical in the 
extreme ; for of the abihty of Government, even 
without the extra precautions it had been taking, to 
enforce its command there was not the shadow of a 
doubt. O'Connell, who had long anticipated such a 
contingency, at once issued a proclamation in his own 
name, countermanding the meeting. One of his 
trustiest followers, Peter Martin, was sent down, 
post-haste, to Clontarf, with instructions to cause the 
platform that had been erected to be removed ; and 
volunteers were enlisted to scour the country for 
the purpose of warning the people of what had hap- 
pened, and commanding them to return to their 
homes. 

When the secret despatches of Government are 
one day opened for the public, it will be known 
what object was to be served in postponing the pro- 
clamation till a collision between the military and 
the people was all but inevitable. With our present 
information it is impossible to avoid the conclusion 
that those responsible for the manoeuvre really con- 
templated the perpetration of another Peterloo on a 
more extended scale. '* Potir la canaille faut la 
mitraille,'' hummed Wellington, as he read the 
Government proclamation with evident satisfaction. 
That such a calamity, to call it by a no worse name, 
was avoided thanks are due alone to O'Connell. 
Never had he done more to prove his incontestable 
right to lead the Irish nation, and the sincerity of the 
doctrines he preached, never more to advance the 
cause of Irish freedom, and to earn the gratitude of 




t 2 



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O u 



CC 1- 

CC 

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1847] Collapse of the Repeal Agitation. 353 

mankind, than he did by his conduct on this occas- 
ion. We see it all now. We see how incomparably 
greater he was than the little men around him who, 
having satisfied themselves on the strength of an 
ambiguous passage in some of his recent speeches 
that he was going to forswear the principles of a 
lifetime, taunted him with moral cowardice, va- 
poured about what Eliot and Hampden would have 
done in his place, dubbed the proclamation " a mere 
advertisement," and in cold blood formulated the 
monstrous theory that Government, having issued an 
illegal proclamation, ought to have been afforded 
the further privilege of putting itself in the wrong 
by shooting down a body of unarmed peasantry ! 
Patriotism is an excellent thing, but knocking one's 
head against a stone wall is usually described by 
some other epithet. To someone, quoting Horace's 
line, " Diilce ct decor inn est pro pat ria inori,'" O'Con- 
nell replied, *' But, credit me, a living friend is worth 
a churchyard full of dead ones." His incorrigible 
philistinism was intolerable to " young men " : only 
one sees life differently at threescore years and ten 
than at thirty. 

A week later. Government followed up its attack 
on the Association by issuing writs for the arrest of 
O'Connell, his son John, and his chief colleagues, 
Thomas Mathew Ray, Thomas Steele, Richard Bar- 
rett, John Gray, Charles Gavan Duffy, and two 
parish priests, Father Tyrrell and Father Tierney — 
two men so unknown to fame that everybody won- 
dered who they were when their names were 
mentioned — on a charge of conspiring to create 



354 Daniel O'Connell. [1843- 

discontent and disaffection among the liege subjects 
of the Queen, and with contriving, " by means of 
intimidation and the demonstration of great physi- 
cal force to procure and effect changes to be made 
in the government, laws, and constitution of this 
realm." Bail was accepted : for O'Connell himself 
in ;^icx)0, and two sureties each in;f5oo. On 2nd 
November the indictment, ninety-seven feet of 
parchment, *' a masterpiece of intricate alternative 
pleading," was sent to the grand jury, and after six 
days' deliberation a true bill was returned against 
the accused. *' Criminal justice," remarked a Quar- 
terly Reviewer, " had formerly fished with a hook : 
she now fished with a net." The accused pleaded 
on 2 1st November, and the 15th January, 1844, was 
fixed as the day on which the trial was to begin. In 
the interval, O'Connell went down to Darrynane. 

When the intention of Government to prosecute 
was first announced, he had been afraid that the 
charge would run to high treason, and his spirits 
were greatly depressed, looking upon his life as cer- 
tain to be forfeited. When he heard it was only for 
conspiracy, he scoffed at the whole proceeding, as 
likely, indeed, to be harassing and tedious, but in no 
other respect formidable. To Fitzpatrick he wrote, 
on 9th December: ** I have already been hunting 
two days. ... I already feel the immense ben- 
efit of my native air and my delightful exercise. I 
am regaining strength and vigour to endure what- 
ever my sentence may be. You will believe that I 
shall endure it without shrinking or compromise, 
come what may." He spoke bravely, but the 



1847] Collapse of the Repeal Agitation. 355 

future troubled him. Repeal, he clearly saw, had re- 
ceived a blow from which it was not likely to recover 
during his lifetime. The hope, so near to realisation, 
which had buoyed him up during the last six months, 
and inspired him with an energy amounting almost 
to madness, had suddenly all but been extinguished. 
Gladly would he have retired from the struggle ; but 
retreat was no longer possible. Like a ship which, 
under full sail, strikes on a hidden reef, and after a tre- 
mendous recoil again bounds forward of its own 
motion, the impetus he had given to the agitation 
forced him on without his own will. But he knew 
what the end must be. He had measured his strength 
with Government, and he had been defeated. Fine 
and imprisonment confronted him, for of his convic- 
tion he had not the slightest doubt. He was too 
old to start another agitation. Public and private 
cares oppressed him. He feared that the people, in 
a sudden outburst of indignation, might still afford 
Government a pretext for drawing the sword. His 
debts weighed upon him like a millstone round his 
neck, and he was driven, much against his will, to 
reduce his establishment at Darrynane, and to re- 
trench his expenses all round. As yet there were 
no signs of mental weakness ; but there can be little 
question that the germs of progressive paralysis of 
the brain were sown at this time. 

On 15th January, 1844, the day of the opening of 
the trial, business was practically suspended in Dub- 
lin. The Attorney General's announcement that he 
had discovered a foul and wicked conspiracy had 
raised public expectation to the highest pitch. At 



35^ Daniel O' Connell. [1843- 

the Four Courts the crush was so great as to render 
it necessary to barricade the entrance to the Queen's 
Bench. The quays were Hned with people, and in 
the court itself not a seat was to be had for love or 
money. Almost every newspaper in Ireland and 
England was specially represented. On the Bench 
sat Chief Justice Pennefather, and Justices Cramp- 
ton, Perrin, and Burton. The flower of the Irish Bar 
was retained, either for the prosecution or the de- 
fence. But of more interest to the public than either 
judges, advocates, or even the accused, was the jury. 
Never in the annals of jury-packing in Ireland had 
the necessity of procuring a conviction led to such 
an outrageous misuse of the powers reposed in the 
Crown as on the present occasion. Every art, every 
trick, had been practised to secure a jury subservient 
enough to register the decree of Government. From 
first to last the trial was a bitter satire on the admin- 
istration of justice in Ireland. The panel was tam- 
pered with, and the name of every Roman Catholic 
struck off the list. Counsel for the defendants pro- 
tested ; their protest was upheld by Justice Perrin, 
but overruled by the three other judges. The 
opening speech by the Attorney General lasted two 
days. It contained no revelations, nothing, indeed, 
but what all the world had read in the newspapers. 
The interest, so intense at the beginnincr of the trial, 
speedily evaporated. Judges, jury, and audience all 
fell asleep. O'Connell himself, who conducted his 
own defence, spoke listlessly and with less effect than 
perhaps ever in his whole life. But, none the less, 
he did not deceive himself as to what would be the 



1847] Collapse of the Repeal Agitation. 357 

result. He foresaw not only that he would be con- 
demned, but that the sentence would probably be a 
heavy one. Fearing lest popular indignation would 
assume the dimensions of a riot he, two days be- 
fore the conclusion of the trial, published a letter to 
the Roman Catholic bishops, suggesting, with " pro- 
found humility," 

*' The propriety of directing the clergy of every parish 
. . . to take care that not the least particle of anger 
or irritation should exhibit itself among the Catholic 
people ; to stifle every expression of sorrow or of wrong 
in the recollection that prudence as well as duty — per- 
sonal safety, as well as religion — imperatively require 
that every part of Ireland should remain in the most 
perfect order and tranquillity, and in the most profound 
and undisturbed quiet." 

On I2th February, the jury, after a little decent 
delay, returned a verdict of guilty of unlawful 
and seditious conspiracy. Sentence was postponed 
till the beginning of next term. In the interval 
O'Connell, after once more appealing to the people 
not to allow themselves to be tempted to break the 
peace, but to act peaceably, quietly, and legally, 
proceeded to London. 

The attack on the Repeal leaders had in Ireland 
been followed by large accessions to-the ranks of the 
National movement, amongst the most notable be- 
ing, perhaps, William Smith O'Brien, a scion of the 
ancient and noble house of Thomond ; of whom it 
was truly said that he advanced slowly, but, having 



35^ Daniel O' Connell. [I843- 

made up his mind, never took a step backwards — a 
cold, inflexible, vain man, for whom the stern realities 
of life eventually proved too hard. In England, 
too, the manifest unfairness of the trial had operated, 
if not indeed to swell the ranks of the Repealers to 
any perceptible degree, at any rate to promote a 
more friendly feeling towards Ireland, which had 
taken shape in suggestions for a federal Parliament, 
holding an occasional session in Dublin. O'Connell, 
who had always been more or less popular with the 
Radicals, was warmly welcomed at Manchester, 
Liverpool, Birmingham, and Coventry. A banquet 
was given to him in Covent Garden theatre, which 
the Earl of Shrewsbury and Sharman Crawford, for- 
getting their old feuds with him, honoured by their 
presence. When he entered the House of Commons 
he was received with an outburst of applause so 
spontaneous and hearty as must have conveyed to 
Peel a painful warning of the dangerous ground on 
which he was standing. " I am glad," he wrote to 
Fitzpatrick on 17th February, *' I came over ; not so 
much on account of the Parliament as of the Eng- 
lish people. I have certainly met with a kindness 
and a sympathy which I did not expect, but which I 
v/ill cheerfully cultivate." On the 23rd, without 
alluding to his own case he spoke at length on the 
state of Ireland, imploring Parliament to reconsider 
the relations between the two countries, and by an 
act of justice to put an end to the constant strife 
between them. 

Judgment was delivered on 30th May. O'Connell 
had not been mistaken when he anticipated that the 



1847] Collapse of the Repeal Agitation, 359 

punishment would be a severe one. He was sen- 
tenced to be imprisoned for twelve months, to pay a 
fine of ;^2,ooo, and to find security for his good 
behaviour during the next seven years, himself in 
^5,000 and two others each in ;^2,5oo. The same 
day he and his fellow - *' conspirators " were removed 
to Richmond Bridewell. Here a pleasant surprise 
awaited them. Except for the restrictions it neces- 
sarily placed on their personal movements, and the 
limited space it afforded for physical recreation, im- 
prisonment proved far less dreadful than their imag- 
ination had depicted it. Comfortable quarters were 
assigned to them, the attendance of their own serv- 
ants allowed them, provision made for such as had 
families living with them, and admission readily 
granted to all who wished to visit them. From the 
first day, presents of all sorts — '' monster " cakes, 
fish, venison, game, fruit, and flowers — arrived in 
boundless profusion. They were overwhelmed with 
addresses; bored with deputations, till Government 
put a stop to the nuisance ; complimented on their 
patriotism by American visitors ; and, in short, '* lion- 
ized " in every shape and form. They breakfasted 
and dined together ; the evenings they spent in their 
own private apartments with their families and more 
intimate friends. To while away the time they got 
up private theatricals, started a Richmond Ga- 
zette, limited to one copy in manuscript, erected a 
gymnasium, held mock *' monsters " on a hillock in 
the garden, and, in fact, enjoyed themselves as mer- 
rily as a parcel of schoolboys let out for play. O'Con- 
nell, after the first dread of an insurrection had 



360 Daniel O'Connell. [1843- 

passed away, accepted his confinement with equan- 
imity and even with satisfaction. 

" There wanted," he said, " but this to my career, 
I have laboured for Ireland — refused office, honour, and 
emolument for Ireland. I have prayed and hoped and 
watched for Ireland. There was one thing wanted : that 
I should be in jail for Ireland. That has now been 
added to the rest, thanks to our enemies ; and I cordially 
rejoice at it." 

His health, he protested, was excellent, and he 
took every means within his power to preserve it. 
"Seven times round the jail garden," he remarked, 
" is a mile. I walk it three times a day." He pro- 
posed to occupy himself in writing his own memoirs, 
but beyond borrowing a set of the Ajt7tual Register 
from the Association Library he made no attempt 
to carry out his scheme. At dinner-table he played 
the genial and attentive host very much as if he had 
been at home at Darrynane. But there can be no 
doubt of the truth of Daunt's observation, that he 
fretted under the confinement, and began to age 
very rapidly. 

Meanwhile a strenuous effort was being made to 
reverse the judgment passed upon him by an appeal 
to the House of Lords. No less than thirty-four 
grounds of error were assigned. It was urged that 
the offence for which he and his companions were 
tried was not legally charged in the indictment, that 
the jury was not a lawful jury of the country, the 
verdict was not a lawful verdict, and the judgment 
of the court bad in law. People laughed at the 



18471 Collapse of the Repeal Agitation. 361 

appeal. What chance was there, it was asked, of the 
House of Lords acting impartially in the matter? 
Nevertheless, it was the impossible that actually 
happened. On 4th September the House of Lords, 
in the person of its law members, decided that the 
judgment pronounced in Ireland ought to be re- 
versed. It has been urged that the decision, not- 
withstanding the abstention of the lay Lords was, 
after all, a party vote. This is no doubt true; but 
it is equally true that in assenting to the appeal of 
Lord Wharncliffe, to leave the decision to those of 
their brethren who were learned in the law, the 
Lords achieved a victory over their own prejudices 
deserving the high encomium passed upon it by 
Montalembert. Besides, there can be no question 
that Lord Denman's remark, that if such practices 
as had prevailed in the case were to continue, '' trial 
by jury in Ireland would become a mockery, a delu- 
sion, and a snare," was sound law as well as sound 
sense. On the other hand, Irishmen were justified 
in complaining that the process of appeal in criminal 
law resembled the procedure of Rhadamanthus, who 
punished first and inquired afterwards. The appeal 
cost the Association ;^5o,ooo ; but it was money 
well spent. 

When the news of their deliverance was com- 
municated to O'Connell and the other prisoners in 
Richmond jail, so incredible did it seem that, for a 
moment, it quite stunned them. The revulsion of 
feeling was intense. Prisoners, gaolers, and friends 
alike burst into tears. O'Connell, when he recovered 
his composure, said reverently: *' Fitzpatrick, the 



362 Daniel O' Connell. [1843~ 

hand of man is not in this. It is the response given 
by Providence to the prayers of the faithful, stead- 
fast, pious people of Ireland." Next day, 7th Sep- 
tember, seated on a car of imposing structure, drawn 
by six white horses, he was borne in triumph to his 
house in Merrion Square amid the plaudits of the 
populace. As the procession passed through Col- 
lege Green he pointed significantly to the old Par- 
liament House, and the crowd responded with a 
burst of applause. 

After attending a banquet in honour of the politi- 
cal prisoners, and making a public appearance at the 
Association, O'Connell repaired to Darrynane. He 
longed for the bracing air of the mountains, for the 
peace and quietness which, so long as he remained 
in Dublin, were denied him ; and, above all, he 
wanted to ponder over the situation and to mature 
his plans for the future. His journey thither was one 
long ovation. During his imprisonment, the Federal 
movement, to which allusion has been made, had been 
steadily gaining ground in influential Conservative 
circles as an alternative for Repeal. Several pam- 
phlets had appeared on the subject, and the matter 
had formally and, indeed with his own approbation, 
been brought before the Dublin Corporation by Dr. 
Maunsell, whose connection with the chief organ of 
Tory opinion in Ireland, the Evening Mail, lent 
special significance to the step. The repeal of the 
Union he had always and still regarded as a subject 
on which honest men might differ. For himself, 
though he could not, as he wrote to Maunsell, accept 
his Federal resolutions as a substitute for repeal, he 



1847] Collapse of the Repeal Agitation, 363 

thought it extremely desirable to have the matter 
thoroughly discussed. *' The truth is," he explained 
to Fitzpatrick, " that a strong Federal display made 
by and with men hitherto Non-Repealers, would in- 
duce the Ministry to strike, and to canvass the terms 
on which the Irish legislature should be established." 
Pondering the matter quietly over, at Darrynane, he 
came to the conclusion that a via 7nedia could and 
ought to be found along which Federalists and Re- 
pealers might march together. He embodied his 
thoughts in a long public letter addressed to the 
Secretary of the Association. They had recently, 
he argued, won a great, a glorious, and a bloodless 
victory. It was their duty to use that victory, not 
to irritate but to conciliate all classes and persuasions 
of their fellow-countrymen, and, if possible, to pro- 
cure the entire Irish nation to join in the struggle to 
obtain the right of Irishmen to legislate for them- 
selves. Hitherto idle jealousies and unfounded fears 
had prevented such an union. It must be their busi- 
ness to remove these jealousies and fears by assuring 
their Protestant fellow-countrymen that they, the 
Catholics, desired no civil or ecclesiastical ascend- 
ancy, but only equality. It was perfectly clear — 
as clear to the Conservative Dr. Maunsell as to him- 
self — that things could not remain as they were. 
There must be a change of some sort. They had 
arrived at a time when, if Protestant and Catholic 
Non-Repealers were to abandon their apathy or op- 
position and join in the agitation for Repeal, the 
Union could be repealed without danger, difficulty, 
tumult, or force; and without in any way disturbing 



364 Daniel O' Connell. [1843- 

the rights of property or the enjoyments of social 
Hfe. This being the case, why should not Repealers 
and Federalists hit upon some plan for securing the 
common object they had at heart? For himself, he 
disclaimed every species of infallibility, and would 
yield, for the sake of co-operation, everything but 
principle. He would follow in the track of any 
man who sought for the restoration to Ireland of 
the right of legislation. As to the powers to be en- 
trusted to the Irish Parliament, the " simple Repeal- 
ers " were of opinion that it should have precisely 
the same power and authority which the former Irish 
Parliament had. The Federalists had not suggested 
any definite scheme ; but, as far as he could gather, 
they required more for Ireland than the simple 
Repealers did ; for, besides the local Parliament in 
Ireland, having full and perfect local authority, they 
required that there should be for questions of Impe- 
rial concern, colonial, military, naval, and of foreign 
alliance and policy a congressional or federative 
Parliament, in which Ireland should have her fair 
share and proportion of representation and power. 
In this respect he confessed he felt a preference for 
the Federative plan, as tending more to the utility 
of Ireland, and to the maintenance of the connection 
with England than the mode of simple Repeal. At 
the same time, it was obvious that he could not 
consent to commit himself in the matter till some 
definite scheme had been submitted to him by the 
Federalists. 

This letter, which will strike every careful reader 
of it as a candid and statesmanlike exposition of the 



1847] Collapse of the Repeal Agitation. 365 

subject, spread consternation in the ranks of the 
Young Ireland party. What better proof, they 
asked, could be wanted of the incapacity of their 
leader to lead than was afforded by his determination 
to abandon Repeal in favour of Federation ? It is true 
the letter said nothing about abandoning Repeal, 
but they were convinced, all the same, that this was 
O'Connell's meaning. What was Federation but a 
stepping-stone to Whiggism ? It was time to sound 
the alarm — high time to put a stop to this shilly- 
shallying on the part of their leader. They had 
never forgiven him for what they called his "re- 
treat" at Clontarf; they were beside themselves 
with rage at this fresh exhibition of his moderation 
The loaf, the whole loaf, or no bread, they shouted. 
It is easier to understand their position than to ap- 
prove of it. O'Connell had expressed his belief 
that Federalism would tend to draw England and 
Ireland closer together. This was the stone of 
stumbling. This was exactly what they did not 
want. What they wanted was separation — "a for- 
eign policy for Ireland." But they lacked the cour- 
age to speak out their meaning. At best, they were 
but weak imitations of Tone. No one was more 
surprised at the reception accorded his letter than 
the author of it. He protested that it would have 
been better to have read it than to have criticised it 
unread. But the mischief was done. Their shouts 
had frightened the Federalists, and, after vainly try- 
ing to repair their blunder, O'Connell withdrew his 
offer. 

Meanwhile Peel, having failed to put down the 



366 Daniel O' Connell. [1843- 

agitation by prosecuting the leaders of it, was en- 
deavouring, in more legitimate and statesman-like 
fashion, to sap the strength of the National movement 
by measures of legislative redress. In November, 
1843, ^^ ^^d caused a commission to issue, known 
from its chairman, Lord Devon, as the Devon Com- 
mission, 

" To inquire into the state of the law and practice in 
respect to the occupation of land in Ireland, and in re- 
spect also to the burdens of county cess and other 
charges which fall respectively on the landlord and occu- 
pying tenant ; and to report as to the amendments, if any, 
of the existing laws, which, having due regard to the just 
rights of property, may be calculated to encourage the cul- 
tivation of the soil, to extend a better system of agricul- 
ture, and to improve the relation between landlord and 
tenant in that part of the United Kingdom." 

The Committee reported on 14th February, 1845, 
and the preparation of a Bill embodying some, at 
least, of its suggestions, was entrusted to Stanley. 
At the same time proposals were submitted to Par- 
liament for increasing and making permanent the 
annual grant to the Catholic Seminary at Maynooth, 
and for founding a system of middle-class education 
by the establishment of secular colleges at Cork, 
Belfast, and Galway. O'Connell strongly favoured 
the programme of Government, so far as it related to 
Maynooth ; but believing, as he said, that ** religion 
ought to be the basis of education," he went over to 
England, in June, for the express purpose of oppos- 
ing the establishment of the provincial colleges. 





THE NAUGHTY BOY. 

FROM A PRINT IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



1847] Collapse of the Repeal Agitation. 367 

Speaking on the 23rd, he said, " Let there be Pres- 
byterianism for the Presbyterian, Protestantism for 
the Protestant, and Catholicism for the CathoHc. I 
want nothing for the Cathoh'c which I am not ready 
to assert for others. Let there be fair play and just- 
ice to all." His opposition was unavailing ; the 
three secular colleges were established ; but, as he 
predicted, the Catholics, after a brief trial of them, 
withdrew from them under instructions from the 
Propaganda. Of the third measure, Stanley's Land 
Bill, it is only necessary to say that while its 
provisions fell far short of O'Connell's demand for 
" fixity of tenure," and ** absolute right of recom- 
pense for all substantial improvements *' on the part 
of the tenant, it encountered such opposition in the 
Lords as led to its being withdrawn. 

O'Connell's criticism of the Bill drew down upon 
him the vengeance of the Times. He had insisted 
that Government ought to meet the landlords boldly 
and force them to do their duty. The Times re- 
plied by sending a commissioner down to Darry- 
nane to investigate the state of his property. The 
result of the inquiry was, as might have been ex- 
pected, not favourable to O'Connell. His tenants 
were reported to be immersed in the most squalid in- 
digence ; Cahirciveen was depicted as a congregation 
of wretchedness, its dirty and unpaved streets, and 
old hat-mended windows, testifying to the neglect in 
which it was held by its proprietor ; and he himself 
charged with remorselessly evicting his tenantry and 
by imputation with being a participator in the very 
clearance system he had condemned. The report 



368 Daniel O' ComielL [1843- 

was a tissue of exaggerations and falsehoods from 
beginning to end. The very wantonness of the 
charges preferred against him defeated the object 
for which they were brought, and raised up many 
friends for him in unexpected quarters. " The man- 
agement of O'Connell's property," wrote the Tory 
Evening Mail, " is excellent, and his tenants are 
comfortable and happy." But though he had little 
difficulty in rebutting the accusation, the conduct of 
the Times irritated him and, added to his other 
troubles, told seriously on his health. 

Meanwhile, the shadow of the Great Famine was 
stealing slowly but perceptibly over the land. Early 
in October it was known that the potato crop, on 
which almost one-third of the population depended 
for their existence, had rotted in the ground. Over 
the whole length and breadth of the land there was 
hardly a sound field of potatoes to be seen : every- 
where nothing but a mass of decaying, stinking veg- 
etable matter. Fortunately the cereal crop was 
above the average, and there was every prospect, if 
Government interposed with an embargo on the 
exportation of grain, that the calamity with which 
the nation was menaced might be partially averted. 
Warnings reached Government from all quarters. 
O'Connell himself was the first to sound the alarm. 
Speaking at a public meeting on 28th October, 
he insisted on the necessity of closing the ports 
without delay, of taking measures to prevent the 
precious grain being misused for purposes of distilla- 
tion and brewing, and of importing rice from the 
Carolinas and Indian corn from America. To pay 



1847] Collapse of the Repeal Agitation, 369 

for the extra supplies, he suggested a tax of fifty 
per cent, on the rentals of all absentee landlords, 
and ten per cent, on all resident ones. For himself, 
he at once began to lay up large stores of rice at 
Darrynane for the benefit of his tenants. Together 
with the Duke of Leinster, Lord Cloncurry, and the 
Mayor of Dublin he waited on the Lord Lieutenant, 
Lord Heytesbury, with the object of impressing up- 
on Government the serious nature of the situation. 
They were answered that specialists were being sent 
over from England to investigate the nature of the 
disease ! Meanwhile, the grain was leaving the 
country in larger quantities than usual. According 
to the Mark Lane Express sixteen thousand quar- 
ters of corn were exported in a single week. The 
moral of the situation was pointed out in words of 
burning indignation by the Nation — 
" Heaven, that tempers ill with good, when it smote our 

wonted food, 
Sent us bounteous growth of grain — sent to pauper 

slaves in vain ! 
We but asked in deadly need, ' Ye that rule us, let us 

feed 
On the food that 's ours ' ; behold ! — adder-deaf and 

icy cold ! 
Were we saints of Heaven ! were we — how we burn to 

think it — free ! 
Not a grain should leave our shore, not for England's 

golden store. 
They who hunger where it grew: they whom Heaven 

has sent it to, 

They who reared with sweat of brow — they, or none 

should have it now." 
24 



370 Daniel O' Conneil. [1843- 

A duke of the blood royal remarked : " I under- 
stand that rotten potatoes and sea-weed, or even 
grass properly mixed, afford a very wholesome and 
nutritious food. We all know that Irishmen can live 
upon anything, and there is plenty of grass in the 
fields, even if the potato crop should fail." It was 
difificult, under the circumstances, to keep one's 
temper. As usual, hard in the wake of famine and 
pestilence came agrarian outrage. Once more the 
country was threatened with coercion. Peel was re- 
minded by the Morning Herald that the railways 
recently constructed had brought every part of Ire- 
land within six hours of the central garrison. The 
Nation retorted that railways could be destroyed, 
and that Hofer and his Tyroleans could hardly have 
desired a deadlier ambush than was afforded by the 
brink of a deep cutting upon a railway. The pro- 
vocation was very great ; but such language only 
served to make matters worse, and O'Connell at once 
protested against it. 

Bad as things were when Parliament met on 22nd 
January, 1846, there was still time to alleviate the 
misery of the nation. On 17th February O'Connell 
rose to call attention to the state of famine and dis- 
ease in Ireland, and to ask for a committee of the 
whole House to devise means to relieve the distress 
of the Irish people. He was answered by expres- 
sions of good-will and sympathy ; but the measures 
he suggested as necessary to preserve Ireland from 
the horrors of famine and pestilence were too bold 
for the timidity of the ministry and the inclination 
of the House. Once again, instead of the bread he 



1847] Collapse of the Repeal Agitation. 371 

asked for, he was offered a stone — instead of a fish, 
a scorpion. On 30th March a Coercion Bill of ex- 
treme severity was, after having passed the Lords, 
submitted for the approval of the House of Com- 
mons. O'Connell offered it all the opposition in his 
power. He spoke temperately and persuasively. 
He did not, he said, deny the existence of outrages 
in certain parts of Ireland. But he begged the 
House to look deeper, and to remove the causes of 
those outrages. In the county of Tipperary there 
was an agrarian law, which was the law of ejectment ; 
in the province of Ulster there was a general law, 
giving the tenant valuable rights. The remedy he 
asked for was that the tenant right of Ulster should 
be generally adopted throughout Ireland. He wanted 
the House to grant a strong, bold, manly, useful, re- 
medial measure. The only coercion act required 
was one to compel the landlords who would not do 
their duty — to compel them to prevent the people 
dying of hunger. Help came to him from an unex- 
pected quarter. In June the Bill was defeated by a 
combination of Whigs, Radicals, and discontented 
Protectionists. Peel seized the opportunity to re- 
tire from office, and in July he was succeeded by 
Lord John Russell. 

The appointment of Lord Duncannon, now Earl 
of Bessborough, with whom he had long been on 
terms of familiar intercourse, as Lord Lieutenant 
gratified O'Connell and, believing that the accession 
of the Whigs to power would be followed by reme- 
dial measures for the social grievances under which 
Ireland was groaning, he entered into a cordial alii- 



372 Da n iel O ' Connell. w 843- 

ance with them. His poHcy was disapproved of by 
the Young Ireland party. They had boasted so long 
of having prevented him retreating on Federalism 
that they thought they could prevent what they 
regarded as a more disgraceful retreat on Whiggism. 
But this time they reckoned without their host. The 
situation was too serious for such trifling. O'Con- 
nell not only refused to give way, but insisted on a 
public renunciation of their hypothetical physical 
force notions. Rather than yield on this point, they 
seceded in a body from Conciliation Hall. Their 
secession was an act of treason, not only against their 
leader but against their country, more disastrous in 
its effects than any amount of agrarian outrages on 
the part of ignorant Tipperary peasants. Their con- 
duct mortified and wounded O'Connell. It was his 
death-blow. From that day the disease from which 
he was suffering made rapid strides. His friends 
were alarmed to see how suddenly old and haggard 
he had grown. In the autumn he retired to Darry- 
nane to visit, as it proved for the last time, those 
scenes once so full of life and joy to him, now de- 
solate and dreary beyond description. The recur- 
rence of the potato famine, intensified this time by a 
cereal harvest below the average, filled his cup of 
wretchedness to overflowing. But, feeble and ema- 
ciated though he was in body, his mind was still 
clear. " My dear Friend," he wrote to Fitzpatrick 
on 5th October: "It would be the absurdest of all 
absurd things to think of a tribute in such times as 
these. They are, indeed, more awful than you have 
any notion of. All our thoughts are engrossed with 




DANIEL O'CONNELL. 

FROM THE PAINTING BY T. CARRICK. 



1847] Collapse of the Repeal Agitation. 373 

two topics — endeavouring to keep the people from 
outbreaks and endeavouring to get food for them. 
I tell you danger is in our path. May the great God, 
in His infinite mercy, mitigate the calamity and 
avert the danger! " 

In December he went up to Dublin to assist at the 
formation of a central board of Irish landlords, " in 
which religious differences would never be heard of," 
for providing means to alleviate the general distress. 
The attitude of the Young Ireland party, and par- 
ticularly of Smith O'Brien, caused him infinite dis- 
tress, but his efforts at reconciliation proved useless, 
and so, seeing his country once more drifting into 
rebellion, he quitted Ireland on 22d January, 1847, 
for the last time. On 8th February he appeared in 
the House of Commons — the mere shadow of his 
former self. He had come to plead for the last time 
for Ireland. She was in their hands — in their power. 
If they did not save her she could not save herself. 
If they did not come to her help he solemnly called 
on them to recollect that he predicted with the sin- 
cerest conviction that one-fourth of her population 
would perish. He was heard with difficulty ; the voice 
once so resonant had sunk almost to a whisper. He 
struggled to exert himself. " There never was a 
period," he wrote on 13th February, ** when more 
energy was necessary for the public safety, nor were 
ever the prospects more dark and dismal .... How 
different would the scene be if we had our own 
parliament, taking care of our own people ! " 

But, even while he wrote, the hand of death was 
upon him. His physicians spoke hopefully, and 



374 Daniel 0' ConnelL [1843- 

recommended a change of scene and air. But he 
did not deceive himself : he knew he was dying. 
His physical weakness increased daily ; but his mind 
was perfectly clear, though torpid. He found infinite 
consolation in the spiritual ministrations of his friend 
the Rev. Dr. Miley, whom the kindness of Arch- 
bishop Murray allowed to attend on him. Occasion- 
ally a faint smile stole over his face when some 
incident of happier days was recalled to him. *' But 
generally," wrote Dr. Miley, " he is solemn, collected, 
and given to ejaculatory prayer — the autotype, you 
would figure to yourself, of one of the ancient 
patriarchs of whom it is written ' They walked before 
God, and were perfect.' " On ist March he sent his 
last instructions to his faithful friend — " the best of 
all his friends," he called him — Fitzpatrick. Then a 
great torpor fell upon him : he assented listlessly to 
the arrangements made for his removal. Before 
proceeding abroad he spent a little time at Hastings, 
where he was visited by the Earl of Shrewsbury — 
all his old animosities forgotten. On St. Patrick's 
Day several bunches of shamrock reached him from 
Ireland — one from a member of the Beresford family. 
The attention touched him. On 22d March he 
crossed over from Folkestone to Boulogne, attended 
by his youngest son Daniel, Dr. Miley and his valet, 
Dugan. The journey through France was slow and 
painful. At Paris, among those who called to show 
their respect for him were Montalembert and de 
Berryer. Everywhere the profoundest reverence 
was paid him. At Lyons, which was reached on 
nth April, it was snowing as heavily, Dr. Miley 



1847] Collapse of the Repeal Agitation. 375 

wrote, as you ever saw it in Dublin on a Christmas 
Eve. His listlessness grew upon him, and his utter 
indifference about reaching Rome irritated Dr. Miley. 
It was the 6th May before he reached Genoa. His 
end was drawing perceptibly nearer. Shortly after 
two o'clock on Saturday morning, the 15th, while it 
was still dark, the Cardinal Archbishop — himself 
eighty-eight years old — was summoned to administer 
the last rites of the Catholic Church to him. '' All 
Genoa was praying for him." About half past nine 
on the same day he passed quietly away, *' with the 
calm of an infant that falls off to sleep." His heart 
according to his request was embalmed, and, being 
placed in a silver urn, was carried to Rome, where it 
was received by Pius IX. and placed with imposing 
solemnity in the church of St. Agatha. His body 
was brought back to Ireland on 5th August, and 
interred in Glasnevin cemetery. In 1869 a round- 
tower 165 feet high was erected to his memory and 
his body removed to a crypt at its base. 

O'Connell's death removed from the political stage 
one of the most eminent characters of the century. 
For nearly forty years he had been prominently before 
the public, and during those forty years there had 
scarcely been a political meeting of any importance 
in Ireland at which he had not been the chief 
speaker. In the three kingdoms there was hardly a 
person to whom he was not familiar, either person- 
ally or through the well-known caricatures of H. B. 
Slightly under six feet, and broad in proportion, with 
features which the wonderful charm of his mouth 
redeemed from coarseness, and a voice at once sweet 



3/6 Daniel O'ConnelL [1843- 

and sonorous, he seemed to have been specially 
framed by nature for the part he played of agitator. 
And this man, who could move millions with his 
eloquence, who held the fate of Ireland in his grasp 
for at least a quarter of a century, who at any 
moment during that time could, by a single word, 
have caused a revolution, the consequence of which 
it is impossible to forecast — what sort of man 
was he? What was the secret of the power he 
wielded ? What was the lesson his life has to teach 
us ? 

The scion of an ancient family, of whose traditions 
he was perhaps a little inordinately vain, he was in 
reality a very simple, homely person. Unpretentious 
in all that concerned himself, he showed himself to 
men exactly as he was. His faults were as patent as 
his good qualities. His life was an open book, which 
all men might read — a book in which, while there 
was much to blame, there was much more to com- 
mend, and a book which men interpreted generously 
or illiberally as their own natures were generous or 
illiberal. Seldom till, in his declining days, knowing 
what it was to be ill, he rejoiced like a healthy 
schoolboy in the exercise of his physical powers. 
To follow his beagles on foot in the dewy freshness 
of the morning, when the sun was shooting its 
earliest rays over the Atlantic, was to him the su- 
premest pleasure in life. Loving nature in all her 
changing moods, he was never so entirely happy as 
when at Darrynane. Learned he was not, so far as 
book-lore went. Indeed, outside legal literature, of 
which he possessed a competent knowledge, he was 





4 




THE O'CONNELL MONUMENT, QLASNEVIN. 



1847] Collapse of the Repeal Agitation. 2>77 

neither widely nor deeply read. Even of the history 
of his own country he was, till he made a special 
study of it for his Repeal agitation, but vaguely and 
inaccurately informed. His one attempt at writing 
it — A Memoir on Ireland, Native and Saxon — is a 
mediocre production. He liked poetry ; but his taste 
was neither refined nor discriminative. Dickens, he 
considered, for obvious reasons, the greatest novel- 
ist ; and he followed the story of little Nell as it 
appeared week by week, with the intensest interest. 
Though speaking Irish himself, he had no sympathy 
with those who wished to preserve the language 
either to national or philological ends. The Annals 
of the Four Masters he despised as a wearisome 
record of uninteresting facts. For the rest, the 
Tower of Babel had, in his opinion, worked enough 
mischief, and English was sufficient for all practical 
purposes. He spoke French tolerably ; but when 
approached to advocate the cause of the '' Lyons 
conspirators," in 1835, he declined on the ground of 
"sheer incapacity to perform that duty efficiently in 
the French language." His early training had given 
him a bent towards theological discussion, which his 
agitation of the Catholic claims developed, and he 
more than once posed on public platforms as the 
champion of his creed. But he was only superfi- 
cially versed in ecclesiastical history, and his points 
were rather those of an acute lawyer than of a can- 
did critic. Himself a Roman Catholic from convic- 
tion as well as education, though his creed hardly 
perhaps in all respects conformed to the canons of 
strict orthodoxy, he was entirely tolerant of every 



2,yS Dame/ 0' Connell. [1843- 

form of Christian belief. In truth, he was a man of 
deep religious feeling, who in all the relations of life 
carried about with him a profound consciousness of 
the divine presence. Possessing a broad sense of 
humour, which rendered him impatient of the artifi- 
cial restraints of society, he took an almost wanton 
pleasure in the use of language which, if it some- 
times served the cause of truth, more often than not 
only succeeded in wounding people's susceptibilities 
and rendering himself disliked. To Jeremy Bent- 
ham's remonstrances in this particular he urged that 
it was right to speak of one's friends and enemies in 
the strongest language consistent with truth. But 
it is difficult to see what truth there was in calling 
Peel a ''scented fop," Sir Henry Hardinge a "one- 
armed miscreant," and the Duke of Wellington a 
*' stunted corporal." The habit grew upon him in 
ordinary conversation, till such words as " rogue," 
''villain," "scoundrel," at last lost all precise signifi- 
cance for him. Fortunately his language, if it was 
only too often abusive, was never feebly malicious. 
Anger and indignation he reserved for public ques- 
tions and public men ; and if he was accustomed to 
hit hard he never complained when attacked in 
return, while his boundless good humour and inex- 
haustible store of mother-wit often enabled him to 
parry the weapons of his adversaries and turn the 
laugh against them. Admirable in all the relations 
of his private life — of husband, father, friend, and 
master — he was adored by all who knew him inti- 
mately. His manner might be lacking in refinement, 
his language coarse ; but the man himself was 



1847] Collapse of tlie Repeal Agitation. 379 

entirely lovable. His transparent honesty won the 
confidence of all who came into contact with him. 

Herein lay the secret of his power. No one who 
knew him ever doubted his integrity. His enemies 
sneered at his patriotism, and caricatured him as 
battening on the poverty of the nation he deluded ; 
but his countrymen believed in him, and he never 
did anything to forfeit their confidence. But, if his 
integrity was the main cause of the influence he 
wielded, hardly less important in maintaining it was 
his sensitiveness to public opinion, and the dexterity 
with which he was able to extricate himself from any 
awkward position into which his sometimes too- 
precipitate judgment drove him. Unbending in 
anything affecting principle, he knew the value of 
yielding on matters open to discussion, and the 
frankness with which he admitted his error, while it 
conciliated public opinion, served to strengthen his 
claim as leader. But neither personal integrity nor 
political dexterity would have raised him to the 
position he held had not the condition of things 
been propitious to him. No man, however well 
qualified to play the part of agitator, can of himself 
call an agitation into existence. And if O'Connell's 
power in Ireland was such as, in the opinion of im- 
partial observers, to menace government and by his 
own admission such as no man ought to possess, it 
was so only because he embodied in his own person 
the grievances and aspirations of the great majority 
of his fellow-countrymen. He was strong because 
through him the demands of a nation struggling for 
freedom found articulate expression. 



380 Daniel O'Connell. [1843- 

And this nation, of which he was the representa- 
tive, is it too much to say that he was also the creator 
of it? If the Ireland of the middle of the century 
was a very different country than the Ireland of the 
first two decades, to what cause, if not to O'Connell, 
was the change due ? When he first appeared before 
the public to agitate the claims of his fellow 
Catholics, the bulk of his countrymen were steeped 
in ignorance and apathy. For long years his voice 
was as the voice of one crying in the wilderness. 
Indifference, worse even than open hostility, met 
him on every hand. But the seed he had been sow- 
ing had not all of it fallen into barren soil. Sud- 
denly, and almost without warning, came the 
awakening. From a nation of slaves Irishmen became, 
if not, indeed, at once a nation of freemen, at any 
rate a nation in whom the feeling of a longing for 
freedom had been revived. Men who had hitherto 
hardly dared to count their souls their own ceased to 
cringe beneath the frown of their hereditary tyrant, 
and, preferring starvation and death to slavery, 
asserted their rights as human beings. The hatred 
with which from this moment O'Connell was re- 
garded, the abuse lavished upon him, was significant 
of the terror which he had awakened in the breasts 
of those whose privileges he had invaded and whose 
dominion he had curtailed. Nor was the revolution 
he had effected any the less profound or lasting 
because it had been accomplished without blood- 
shed and by the power of opinion alone. To those, 
indeed, of a younger generation, it only appeared too 
natural, and knowing nothing of the obstacles that 



1847] Collapse of the Repeal Agitation. 381 

had been overcome, they underestimated the victory 
that had been won. In the impatience of their 
ardour to rescue their country from the yoke of the 
oppressor, it seemed to them as if nothing had been 
done. When O'Connell preached moderation and the 
efficacy of constitutional agitation they laughed him 
to scorn, and poured ridicule on his doctrine, that 
no political change was worth the shedding of one 
drop of blood. But Wisdom is justified of her 
children. England has never yielded one iota to ter- 
rorism, and if concession after concession has marked 
the progress of the fifty years that have elapsed 
since O'Connell's death, it is not to the advocates 
of physical force, but to those who, in season and 
out of season, have preached and practised O'Con- 
nell's doctrine of constitutional agitation, that the 
thanks are due. It is easy for the arm-chair politi- 
cian to preach patience ; it is not so easy for those 
who have suffered grievous personal wrong to prac- 
tise it. The abuse of power has only too often in 
Ireland furnished an excuse for outrage and violence. 
No one knew this better than O'Connell; yet no 
one preached patience under suffering more resol- 
utely than he did. He knew exactly where the shoe 
pinched. Not by acts of Parliament per se, not by 
cutting the connection with England, not by turning 
all things topsy-turvy in the hope of a miracle ; but 
by cherishing the constitution, by cleansing adminis- 
tration of its abuses, by peaceful legal agitation, was 
the goal of freedom to be reached. Beside the rosy 
vision of a free and independent republic, strong in 
its own resources' and flourishing in arts and arms, 



382 



Daniel O ' Connell. 



[1843-1847 



as it floated before the imagination of Young Ireland, 
his simple ideal of a well-governed state, under the 
segis of Great Britain, showed pale and colourless. 
But at least it had this merit, that it was capable of 
realisation. 




INDEX 



A 



Aberdeen, I>ord, 197 

Algerine Act : Act suppressing 
Catholic Association so called 
(1825), 153 

Althorp, Lord, 154, 272, 275 ; 
introduces a Church Tempo- 
ralities Bill, 280 

Alvanley, Lord, challenges 
O'Connell, 302 ; duel with 
Morgan O'Connell, 303 

American independence, declar- 
ation of, 4 

Anglesey, Marquis (Henry Wil- 
liam Paget), lord lieutenant 
of Ireland, 197 ; character of 
his government, 215 ; view of 
the state of Ireland (1828), 
216 ; advocates concession of 
Catholic claims, 217 ; recalled, 
218 ; second time viceroy, 
246 ; view of the situation, 
247 ; opinion regarding O'Con- 
nell, 248 ; loss of popularity, 
249; arrests O'Connell, 251; 
removal demanded, 269 ; re- 
signation of, 286 

Anti-Union, the, quoted, 71 

Anti-Union Society for Legisla- 
tive Relief, suppressed, 245 

Arms Bill (1831), 261 ; (1843), 
346 

Association : see under Catholic ; 
Repeal 



Attorney-General : see under 
Blackburne, Francis ; Perrin, 
Louis; Plunket, Lord; Saurin, 
William 



B 



Ballybay, 74; Lawless at, 212 

Barrett, Richard, editor of The 
Pilot, arrested, 251, 286, 353 

Bathurst, Lord, 197 

Becket, James, under secretary 
for Ireland, 93 

Belfast, O'Connell at, 328 

Bennett, R. N., friend of O'Con- 
nell, 10, 93 

Beresford, Lord George, M. P., 
172, 178, 243 

Beresford, Henry, Marquis of 
Waterford: see under Water- 
ford, Marquis of 

Beresfords, political influence of 
the, 172 

Blackburne, Francis, attorney- 
general, 255, 294 

Blaekiuood's Magazine slanders 
O'Connell, 308 

Bolivar, O'Connell refers to, 
146 

Bottle Riot, 126, 171 

Breadalbane, Marquis of, 271 

Brougham, Lord, opinion of 
Goulburn Bill, 150; criticises 
Peel's Catholic Relief Bill, 
223 



383 



384 



Index. 



Brunswick Clubs, 195, 216, 232 
Burdett, Sir Francis, manager 
of the Catholic business, 152 ; 
moves the Catholic claims 
(1827), 186 ; (1828), 198 ; per- 
sonal hostility towards O'Con- 
nell, 307 
Burke, William, of Ballyhea, 

235 
Bushe, Charles Kendal, chief 

justice of the King's Bench, 

120 
Byron, Lord, his ^z/<7/ar quoted, 

116 



Cahirciveen, 2, 180; " a congrega- 
tion of wretchedness," 367 

Camden, Lord (John Jeffrey 
Pratt), II, 70 

Canning, George, moves the 
Catholic claims (1812), 44 ; be- 
comes prime minister (1827), 
187 ; death of, 191 

Canning clauses, 50 

Carrick's Post, O'Connell's let- 
ters to, 93 

Carrickshock, tithe riot at, 262 

Catholics, 28 ; apathy of, 29 ; 
divided on the subject of the 
veto, 30 ; disappointment of, 
43 ; degradation of, 46 ; de- 
pression of, 84 ; position of in 
1814, 95 ; in 1823, 131 ; meet- 
ings of, 192 ; joy at O'Connell's 
election (1828), 205, 216 ; not 
unduly elated by their victory, 
226 ; conflicts with the Orange- 
men, 234 

Catholic Association, The, es- 
tablished, 132 ; its objects, 
134 ; scanty attendance at, 135; 
establishes a Catholic Rent, 
138 ; rapid progress of, 144 ; 
alarms government, 145 ; sup- 
pressed, 153 ; reconstituted, 
161 ; new Rent, 163 ; activity 
of, 192 ; rapid development, 
193 ; effect of O'Connell's elec- 



tion for county Clare on, 207 ; 
extension of, to Ulster pro- 
posed, 211 ; bill to suppress, 
221 ; dissolves itself, 221 

Catholic Bills (1813), 50, 54; 
(1821), 112 ; (1825), 154, 159; 
(1829), 222 ; receives the royal 
assent, 223 

Catholic bishops, pronounce 
against securities, 52 ; vote of 
thanks to, 54, 81 ; condemn 
Pastorini's prophecies, 147 ; 
letter to, from O'Connell, 357 

Catholic Board, established 
(1812), 40; divisions in, 47, 
51 ; vetoists secede from, 55 ; 
suppressed, 84 ; reorganised, 

lOI 

Catholic clergy, 83 ; state en- 
dorsement for, 157 ; influence 
over the peasantry, 204 

Catholic Committee, after 1793, 
35; reconstituted, 36 ; attacked 
by government, 39 ; sup- 
pressed, 40 

Catholic Petitions, first (1805), 
27 ; (1808), 29 ; (1814), 83 ; 
(1815), 97;(i8i6), 98; (1817), 
loi ; (1819), 103 

Catholic Relief Acts (1793), 13; 
(1829), 223 ; declared by 
O'Connell to be inoperative, 

233 

Chiswick, O'Connell removes to, 
10 

Clare election (1828), 200 

Cloncurry, Lord (Valentine 
Browne Lawless), 251, 253, 
346, 369 

Clontarf, meeting at, pro- 
claimed, 351 

Coercion Act (1S33), 272 ; (1846), 

371 
Colchester, Lord (Charles Ab- 
bot), remarks on O'Connell's 
examination in Committee, 

155 
Convention Act, 34, 35, 138 
Cook, Dr., of Belfast, leader of 

the Orange party there, 328 



Index. 



385 



Cork, O'Connell at, 323 
Cornvvallis, Marquis of, 71 
Costello, Marcus, President of 

the Trades Political Union, 

264 
Crawford, Sherman, 358 
Croker, John Wilson, 207 
Curtis, Patrick, archbishop of 

Armagh, Wellington's letter 

to, 217 



D 



Darner, Hon. Dawson, 302 

Darrynane, O'Connell inherits, 
165 ; description of, 166 ; 
O'Connell at, 235, 266, 268, 
284, 323, 326, 333, 336, 354, 
362 

Daunt, O'Neill, friend of O'Con- 
nell, 9, 323, 333, 335 

Davis, Thomas, 342 

Dawson, Colonel, called "Dorry 
Dawson," Peel's brother-in- 
law, effect made on him by 
O'Connell's evidence in Com- 
mittee, 155 ; addresses his con- 
stituents, 210 ; opposes O'Con- 
nell, 328 

Denman, Lord, his remark on 
trial by jury in Ireland, 361 

D'Esterre, duel with O'Connell, 
86 ; killed, 88 ; his widow, 8g 

Devon Commission, its objects, 
366 

Devonshire, Duke of (William 
George Spencer Cavendish), 
his Irish tenants revolt, 176 

Dillon, John, 342 

Disraeli, Benjamin (Lord Bea- 
consfield), quarrel with 
O'Connell, 303 

Doherty, John, solicitor-gen- 
eral, 235, 239 ; becomes chief 
justice of the Common Pleas, 
248 

Domestic Nomination, loi 

Doneraile Conspiracy, 234 

Douay, O'Connell at, 8 

Downes, William, chief justice 
25 



of the King's Bench, his inter- 
pretation of the Convention 
Act, 39 ; presides at Magee's 
trial, 62 

Doyle, James Warren, bishop of 
Kildare and Leighlin, sup- 
ports the Catholic Association, 
142 ; examination before the 
parliamentary committees on 
the state of Ireland, 157 ; mis- 
understanding with O'Connell, 
157, i6g ; reconciled, 170; 
pamphlet on tithes, 257 ; on 
the Newtownbarry " mas- 
sacre," 259 ; on O'Connell's 
popularity, 261 

Drummond, Thomas, under 
secretary for Ireland, 298 ; 
character of, 299 ; death of, 
322 

Dtiblhi Evening Mail, organ of 
Tory opinion, 362 ; defends 
O'Connell against the Times, 
368 

Dublin Evening Post, prosecu- 
tion of, 60 sqq.; 200 

Dudley, Lord (John William 
Ward), 197 

Duffy, (Sir) Charles Gavan, ar- 
rested, 353 

Dugan, O'Connell's valet, 374 

Duigenan, Dr., 53 

Duncannon, Lord (Earl of Ben- 
borough), letter of O'Connell 
to, 269 ; home secretary, 294; 
letter of O'Connell to, 295 ; 
becomes lord lieutenant of 
Ireland, 371 

Dwyer, Edward, secretary of 
the Catholic Association, 250 ; 
arrested, 251 ; O'Connell's let- 
ter to, 273 



Eldon, Lord (John Scott), 188 
Elections, general (1812), 47 ; 
(1830), 243; (1832), 2651(1835), 

295 ; (1S37), 311 



386 



Index, 



Eliot, Lord (Earl St. Germans), 

chief secretary for Ireland, 

introduces an Arms Bill (1843), 

346 
Emmet, Robert, rebellion of, 

24 
Ennis, scenes at, during the 

Clare election, 203 ; Repeal 

meeting at, 325 
Ensor, George, 257 
Esmonde, Sir Thomas, 151, 

187 



Fagan, Mr., a relative of 
O'Connell, 9 

Federation as an alternative for 
Repeal, 363 

Finlay, John, presents a testi- 
monial to O'Connell, 79 

Fitzgerald, Maurice (Knight of 
Kerry), 107, 188, 233 

Fitzgerald, Vesey, ig8 ; seeks 
re-election for county Clare, 
199 ; defeated by O'Connell, 
205 

Fitzpatrick, P. V., O'Connell's 
friend and manager of the 
"Tribute," 200, 227; letters 
to, from O'Connell, 286, 288, 
293, 297, 315, 318, 332, 354, 
372 

Fitzsimon, Christopher, O'Con- 
nell's son-in-law, 269 

Fitzwilliam, Earl, 11, 172, 181 

Fqx, C. James, becomes prime 
minister, 27 

Freeholders, forty-shilling, pro- 
posed to disfranchise, 156 ; of 
Waterford, 174 ; general re- 
volt of, 179; landlord persecu- 
tion of, 180 ; measures taken 
to defend the, 181 ; disfran- 
chisement of the, 223, 226 

Freemasons' Tavern, Catholic 
meeting in, 154 

French, Lord, 346 



General Association to prevent 
illegal meetings, suppressed, 
249 

Genoa, O'Connell dies at, 375 

George IV., liaison with Lady 
Hertford, 43 ; divorce, 108 ; 
visits Ireland, 113 ; enthusias- 
tic reception of, 114; con- 
sequences of his visit, 118 ; 
doubts the wisdom of prose- 
cuting O'Connell for his Boli- 
var speech, 146 ; inveterate 
opposition to Catholic eman- 
cipation, 217 ; death of, 243 

Glasnevin cemetery, O'Connell 
buried in, 375 

Goderich, Viscount (Frederick 
John Robinson), administra- 
tion of, 191 

Gonsalvi, Cardinal, influence on 
Irish politics, 98 

Goulburn, Henry, chief secre- 
tary for Ireland, iig ; opinion 
of the state of Ireland in 1824, 
145 ; introduces a Bill for the 
suppression of the Catholic 
Association, 151 ; removed, 
188 

Gower, Lord Francis Leveson, 
chief secretary for Ireland, 
198, 234 

Grant, Charles (Lord Glenelg), 
197 

Grattan, Henry, 5, 11, 28; pre- 
sents Catholic petition, 29 ; 
in favour of the veto, 30 ; de- 
clines to support the Catholic 
petition, 83 ; again advocates 
the Catholic claims (18 18), 
loi ; presents Catholic peti- 
tions (1819), 103; his death, 105 

Grattan, Jr., Henry, 264, 346 

Gray's Inn, O'Connell keeps 
one term at, 9 

Gray, (Sir) John, of the Free- 
man s Journal, arrested, 353 

Gregory, Mr,, under secretary 
for Ireland. 188 



Index. 



Grey, Earl, administration of, 
246 ; introduces a Coercion 
Bill into the House of Lords, 
272 ; resigns office, 294 

Grey, Thomas Philip, Earl de, 
lord lieutenant of Ireland 



H 



11. B. (John Doyle), caricatures 
of, 375 

Habeas Corpus Act suspended, 
27, 272 

Hardinge, Sir Henry (Viscount 
Hardinge of Lahore), chief 
secretary for Ireland, chal- 
lenges O'Connell, 245 

Harrington, Father, O'Connell 
attends his school at Cove, 6 

Hayes's tavern, meeting at, 
dispersed, 250 

Herries, John Charles, ig7 

Heytesbury, Lord, lord lieu- 
tenant of Ireland, deputation 
to, 369 

Hibernian Journal, 74 

Hobhouse, Sir John Cam, 281 

" Household Brigade," 269 

Howth, O'Connell addresses a 
Repeal meeting at, 327 

Huskisson, William, colonial 
secretary, effect of his resigna- 
tion, 198 

Hutchinson, Christopher Hely, 
47 



I 



Income tax, O'Connell's opinion 
of, 331 

Ireland, in 1801, 25 ; in 1828, 
212 ; in 1829, 234 ; administra- 
tion of justice in, 15 ; after the 
Union, 31; crime in (1S22), 122; 
(1832), 269 ; famine in (1818), 
102 ; 257, 263; (1845), 368, 
370 ; travelling in, in 1795, 10 ; 
Municipal Reform Bill passed, 
322 



Jones, Paul, the buccaneer, 
O'Connell's recollections of, 5 



K 



Kenmare, Lord ( Valentine 

Browne), 13S 
Keogh, Cornelius, son of John, 

opposition offered by him to 

O'Connell, 36 
Keogh, John of Mt. Jerome, his 

services to the Catholic cause, 

28, 200 
Killeen, Lord, son of the Earl 

of Fingal, 131, 163 
Kilwarden, Lord ( Arthur 

Wolfe), killed in Emmet's 

insurrection, 24 
Kirwan, Thomas, trial and con- 
viction of, 40 



Lamb, William: see under Mel- 
bourne, Viscount 

Landor, Walter S., letter to, 
from O'Connell, 2 

Lawless, John, called " Honest 
Jack," censures O'Connell's 
abandonment of the forty- 
shilling freeholders, 158, 187 ; 
invades Ulster, 211 ; retreats 
from Ballybay, 212 ; criticises 
O'Connell, 241 ; is arrested, 

251 
Lawyers' Yeomanry Corps, 

O'Connell a member of, 12 
Lees, Sir Harcourt, an Orange- 
man prosecuted for seditious 

language, 147 
Liberal clubs, origin of, 194 
Liberators, Order of, established 

by O'Connell, 181 
Lichfield House " Compact," 

296 
Lidwill, George, O'Connell's 

second, 92 



388 



Index. 



Littleton, Edward J. (Lord 
Hatherton), chief secretary 
for Ireland, 281 ; compromise 
with O'Connell, 293 

Liverpool, Lord, prime minister, 
90, 159 ; resignation of (1S27), 
187 

Lords, House of, agitation 
against the, 309 ; reverses 
judgment passed on O'Con- 
nell, 361 

Louis XVI,, execution of , 8 

Lyndhurst, Lord, 197 



M 



Macnamara, Major, 199 

Magee, John, proprietor of the 
Dublin Evening Post, prose- 
cuted for publishing a libel on 
the Duke of Richmond, 60 ; 
found guilty, 76 ; repudiates 
O'Connell, 78 ; punishment 
of, 78 

Mahon, O'Gorman, 199, 221 

Mahony, David, a hedge-school 
teacher, 5 

Manners, Lord, 188 

Mark La7ie Express on the ex- 
portation of grain from Ire- 
land, 369 

Martin, Peter, 352 

Mastership of the Rolls de- 
clined by O'Connell, 315 

Mathew, Theobald, apostle of 
temperance, 340 

Maunsell, Dr., a Federalist, 362 

Maynooth, grant increased, 366 

Melbourne, Viscount (William 
Lamb), chief secretary for 
Ireland, 188 ; retains office 
under Wellington, 197; 
prime minister, 294, 297 ; his 
administration, 299, 309, 315, 

329 
Miley, Dr. John, O'Connell's 

chaplain, 374 
Milner, John, bishop of Casta- 

bala. Catholic deputation call 

on, 152 



Morpeth, Viscount, chief secre- 
tary for Ireland, 297 

Mount Melleray, Cistercian 
monastery at, 316 

Moylan, Francis, bishop of 
Cork, 138 

Mulgrave, Lord (Constantine 
H.Phipps, afterwards Marquis 
of Normanby), lord lieu- 
tenant of Ireland, 297 ; offers 
to make O'Connell Chief 
Baron of the Exchequer, 315 

Musgrave, Sir Richard, 346 



N 



Nation, the, organ of the Young 
Ireland party, 340 ; impetus 
given by, to the Repeal move- 
ment, 342 ; on the great 
famine, 369; preaches sedition, 
370 

National Political Union, 264, 
268 

Newtownbarry, "massacre" at, 

259 

Norbury, Lord (John Toler), 
chief justice of the Common 
Pleas, character of, 15 

Northumberland, Duke of, lord 
lieutenant of Ireland, 234 ; 
suppresses the Society of the 
Friends of Ireland, 241 



O 



O'Brien, William Smith, duel 
with Tom Steele, 232; 346 ; 
character of, 357 ; secedes 
from Conciliation Hall, 373 

O'Conor Don, letters to, from 
O'Connell, 104, 112 

O'Connell, Catherine, mother of 
Daniel, 4, 5 

O'Connell, Charles, of Bahoss, 
son-in-law of Daniel, 269 

O'Connell, Daniel, the Libera- 
tor, birth, 4 ; early recollec- 
tions, 5 ; school - days, 6 ; 
college life at St. Omer and 



Index. 



389 



O'Connell, Daniel — Continued 
Douay, 7 ; at Lincoln's Inn, 
9 ; legal studies and ambition, 
10; returns to Ireland, 11 ; 
becomes a United Irishman, 
12 ; called to the Irish Ear, 
12 ; illness and recovery, 13 ; 
joins the Munster circuit, 13 ; 
his first brief, 14 ; progress in 
his profession, 15 ; legal abil- 
ity, 17 ; first political speech, 
18 ; marries, 20 ; condemns 
Emmet's rebellion, 24 ; signs 
the Catholic petition, 27 ; 
opinion of Keogh, 29 ; peti- 
tions for the repeal of the 
Union (18 10), 33 ; reconsti- 
tutes the Catholic Committee, 
35 ; his energy, 37 ; opinion 
of Perceval, 42 ; advocates 
"Simple Repeal," 45 ; pleads 
for unanimity, 47 ; opposes 
securities, 51 ; moves a vote of 
thanks to the Catholic bishops, 
53 ; on the prospect of Catho- 
lic emancipation, 55 ; memor- 
able speech, 57 ; defends 
Magee, 63 ; speech for the de- 
fence, 63-75 ; scene with 
Saurin, 77 ; Magee disavows 
his speech, 78 ; testimonial to, 
79 ; repudiates the temporal 
authority of the Pope, 83 ; de- 
nounces the Dublin Corpora- 
tion, 86 ; duel with D'Esterre, 
87 ; his remorse and vow, 89 ; 
quarrel with Peel, 91 ; duel 
prevented, 93 ; apologises to 
Peel, 94 ; complains of Grat- 
tan, 96 ; remonstrance to the 
Pope, 97 ; professional energy, 
100 ; interested in parliamen- 
tary reform, 103 ; eulogy on 
Grattan, 106 ; advocates re- 
form (1821), 108 ; controversy 
with Sheil, 109 ; objections to 
Plunket's Bills, in; joy at the 
King's visit, 113 ; founds a 
"Loyal Union" club, 116; 
reproached, 117; defends his 



conduct, 118 ; demands im- 
partial administration of the 
laws, 123 ; goes to France, 
124 ; on the cause of crime in 
Ireland, 128 ; founds the 
Catholic Association, 132 ; in- 
stitutes the Rent, 138 ; suc- 
cess of his scheme, 141 ; his 
popularity, 143 ; prosecuted 
for seditious language, 146 ; 
acquitted, 149 ; accompanies 
Catholic deputation to Lon- 
don, 151 ; examined on the 
state of Ireland, 154 ; assists 
in drafting a Catholic Relief 
Bill, 155 ; his opinion of the 
forty-shilling freeholders, 156; 
misunderstanding with Dr. 
Doyle, 157 ; attacked by 
Lawless, 158 ; reconstructs 
the Catholic Association on a 
new basis, 161 ; medal struck 
in his honour, 164 ; inherits 
Darrynane, 165 ; reconciled to 
Dr. Doyle, 170 ; election agent 
to Villiers Stuart, 172 ; sur- 
prised at the moral courage of 
the forty-shilling freeholders, 
179 ; founds the " Order of 
Liberators," 181 ; disappoint- 
ed at the rejection of Bur- 
dett's motion (1827), 186; 
broaches the repeal of the 
Union, 187 ; offers to suspend 
his agitation on condition of 
impartial administration of 
the laws, 189 ; distress at Can- 
ning's death, 191; recommences 
his agitation, 192 ; opposes 
Vesey Pltzgerald, 200 ; elected 
M. P. for county Clare, 205 ; 
approves the extension of the 
Catholic propaganda into Ul- 
ster, 211 ; imprudent speech 
at Clonmel, 213 ; addresses 
the Association for the last 
time, 220 ; expresses his ap- 
proval of Peel's Catholic Re- 
lief Bill, 222 ; opposes the 
disfranchisement of the forty- 



390 



Index. 



O'Connell, Daniel — Continued 
shilling freeholders, 223; 
national testimonial to, 227 ; 
refused admission to sit in the 
House of Commons, 228 ; re- 
elected, 232 ; defends the 
Doneraile " Conspirators, " 
235 ; takes his seat in the 
House of Commons, 238 ; "a 
broguing Irish fellow," 240 ; 
agitates Reform and Repeal, 
244 ; quarrel with Sir Henry 
Hardinge, 245 ; attempt to 
bribe him, 247 ; arrested, 251; 
defeats the attorney-general, 
255 ; liberated, 256 ; approves 
the abolition of tithes", 25S ; 
ill-health, 261 ; pronounces 
against poor-laws, 263 ; re- 
news his agitation, 265 ; in- 
sists on his followers taking a 
Repeal pledge, 26S ; de- 
nounces the Speech from the 
Throne as "brutal and 
bloody," 271 ; opposes Coer- 
cion, 275 ; offers to submit to 
banishment, 276 ; wishes to 
postpone the Repeal debate, 
281 ; his hand forced by Fear- 
gus O'Connor, 282 ; quarrel 
with the Times, 283 ; very 
nervous, 286 ; his Repeal 
speech, 289 ; consents to a 
compromise, 293 ; determines 
to support the Whigs, 295 ; 
declines the Mastership of the 
Rolls, 297 ; unseated at Dub- 
lin, 300 ; heavy election ex- 
penses, 301 ; challenged by 
Lord Alvanley, 302 ; by Dis- 
raeli, 303 ; controversy with 
Raphael, 305 ; attacked by the 
Times, 306 ; his reply to Sir 
F. Burdett, 307 ; death of his 
wife, 30S ; founds a " General 
Association for Ireland," 310; 
defies the " Spottiswoode 
Gang," 312 ; reprimanded by 
the Speaker, 313 ; loss of pop- 
ularity, 314 ; "in retreat," 



316 ; starts a " Precursor So- 
ciety," 317 ; founds the Re- 
peal Association, 319 ; hunt- 
ing at Darrynane, 323 ; visit 
to Belfast, 328 ; elected lord 
mayor of Dublin, 330 ; sus- 
pends his agitation, 331 ; in- 
augurates the Corporation de- 
bate, 336 ; effect of his speech 
on Repeal, 339 ; acknowledges 
his obligations to Father 
Mathew, 341 ; regards the 
Young Ireland movement with 
suspicion, 343 ; denounces 
physical force, 345 ; holds a 
monster meeting at Tara Hill, 
347 ; announces a meeting at 
Clontarf, 351 ; countermands 
it, 352 ; arrested, 353 ; trial, 
356 ; imprisonment, 359 ; re- 
leased, 362 ; letter on Feder- 
alism as an alternative for 
Repeal, 363 ; censured by the 
Young Ireland party, 365 ; 
disapproves of secular college, 
366 ; moves for a committee 
to devise means to alleviate the 
distress in Ireland, 370 ; new 
alliance with the Whigs, 371 ; 
breaks with the Young Ire- 
land party, 372 ; last appeal 
to the House of Commons, 
373 ; leaves England, 374 ; 
dies at Genoa, 375 ; personal 
appearance and character, 376; 
the secret of his influence, 
379 ; his services to Ireland, 
380; the lesson of his life, 381 

O'Connell, Daniel, youngest son 
of the Liberator, 374 

O'Connell, John, son of Daniel, 
269, 323, 333, 335, 353 

O'Connell, Mary, wife of Daniel, 
character of, 20 ; 93, 167, 179; 
death of, 308 

O'Connell, Maurice, of Darry- 
nane, uncle of Daniel, 6, 7 ; 
averse to his nephew's mar- 
riage, 20 ; subscribes to the 
" Rent," 165 ; death of, 165 



Index, 



391 



O'Connell, Maurice, son of 
Daniel, 269 

O'Connell, Morgan, father of 
Daniel, 4 

O'Connell, M o r g a n, son of 
Daniel, 269 ; duel with Al- 
vanley, 302 ; declines to fight 
Disraeli, 304 

O'Connell, Richard, description 
given by, of O'Connell at the 
Bar of the House of Commons, 
229 

O'Connells, a shrewd race, 2 

O'Connor, Feargus, 282 

O'Gorman, Purcell, secretary 
{^pro tevi.) to the Catholic As- 
sociation, 82, 137, 221, 248 

O'Loghlen, Michael, solicitor- 
general, 297 

O'Neill, John, of Fitzwilliam 
Square, presides at the 
foundation of the Repeal As- 
sociation, 320 

Orangemen, 112, 113, 120, 123 ; 
insult the Marquis of Welles- 
ley, 125; 195, 219, 234, 300, 
328 



Palmerston, Viscount, 197 

Parnell, Sir Henry, presents 
Catholic petition, 97, 98, 154, 
261 

Pastorini, prophecies of, 147 

Peel, Sir Robert, chief secretary 
for Ireland, 74, 90, 91, 154, 
188, 197, 221 ; his Catholic 
Relief Bill, 222, 227, 240, 
345, 366, 371 

Pennefather, Richard, chief 
baron of the Exchequer, 89, 
235, 356 

Perceval, Spencer, prime minis- 
ter, assassinated, 42 

Perrin, Louis, attorney-general, 
297, 356 

Pilots the, Barrett's newspaper, 
prosecuted, 286 

Pitt, William, 24 



Pius VII., 48, 81 

Pius IX., 375 

Plunket, Lord (William Con- 

yngham Plunket), receives 

the Catholic deputation, 107 ; 

introduces a Catholic Bill into 

the House of Commons, in ; 

created attorney-general, 120 
Pole, William Wellesley: see 

under Wellesley-Pole, William 
Political Breakfasts, 245 
Poor-Laws, 258 
Precursor Society, objects of, 

317 
Provincial colleges, 366 
Provincial meetings, 171 



Q 



Quarantotti, Monsignor, secre- 
tary to the Propaganda, 81 



Raphael, Alexander, dispute 

with O'Connell, 305 
Ray, T. M., secretary of the 

Repeal Association, 323, 333, 

335, 339, 353 

Rebellion of '98, 13 

Rebellion, Emmet's, 24 

Reform Bill (1832) passed, 265 

Repeal Association, founded, 
319 ; constitution of, 321 ; 
meets in the Corn Exchange, 
331 ; rapid growth of, 339 

Repeal debate (1834), 289 

Revolution, French, 9 

Ribbonmen, 234 

Rice, Thomas Spring (Lord 
Mountleigh), examines O'Con- 
nell in Committee, 154 ; re- 
plies to O'Connell's Repeal 
speech, 289 

Richmond Bridewell, Dublin, 
O'Connell imprisoned in, 359 

Richmond, Duke of (Charles 
L e n n o x), lord lieutenant of 
Ireland, 37 ; libel against, 61 



392 



Index. 



Riddall, Sir James, high sheriff 

of Dublin, 32 
Roe, Alderman George, succeeds 

O'Connell as lord mayor of 

Dublin, 335 
Rome, O'Connell dies on his way 

to, 375 
Roose, Sir David, high sheriff of 

Dublin, 200 
Russell, Lord John, introduces 

Reform Bill, 256 ; moves 

O'Connell's words be taken 

down, 272 ; on the Lichfield 

House "Compact," 296; 

prime minister, 371 



Saunders s News-Letter, 146 
Saurin, William, attorney-gen- 
eral, character of, 61 ; attacks 

O'Connell, 76 ; suppresses the 

Catholic Board, 84 ; removed 

from office, 120, 188 
Saxton, Sir Charles, Peel's 

second, 92, 94 
Scully, Dennis, libels the Duke 

of Richmond, 61 
Securities question, 50, 51, 55, 

81, III 
Sheares, John, anecdote of, 8 
Shell, Richard Lalor, 95, 109, 

113, 179, 192, 214, 222 
Sheridan, Edward, prosecution 

of, 39 
Shrewsbury, Earl of, 358 
Sibthorp, Colonel, 302 
Society of Irish Volunteers for the 

Repeal of the Union, 245 
Society of the Friends of Ireland, 

240, 241 
Solicitor- general : see tinder 

Doherty, John ; O'Loghlen, 

Michael 
" Spottiswoode Gang," 312 
St. Agatha, Rome, O'Connell's 

heart buried in the church 

of, 375 
Stanley, Edward (Earl of Derby), 

chief secretary for Ireland, 



246, 260, 262, 269 ; great 
speech on the Coercion Bill 
(1833), 275; appointed colonial 
secretary, 281 ; his Land Bill 
condemned by O'Connell, 367 

Stapleton, Dr. Gregory, princi- 
pal of St. Omer's, 7 

Staunton, Michael, Editor of the 
Register, 244 

Steele, Tom, head pacificator, 
199, 221 ; fights a duel with 
Smith O'Brien, 232 ; arrested, 

251, 333, 353 

St. Omer, O'Connell at, 7 

Stourton, Lord, dinner given by, 
to O'Connell, 154 

Stuart, H. Villiers, contests 
county Waterford, 172, 174 

Sugrue, Charles, cousin of O'Con- 
nell, 222, 225 

Sussex, Duke of, 154 



Talbot, Lord, lord lieutenant of 
Ireland, 119 

Tara Hill, monster meeting at, 
348 

Temperance movement, influ- 
ence on Repeal agitation, 341 

Ti?)ies, the, 283, 306, 367 

Tipperary, peasantry in county 
of, 212; riots in, 213; agrarian 
disturbances in, 234 

Tithes question, 258, 267 

Tone, Theobald Wolfe, 12, 207, 
290 ; influence of, on the 
Young Ireland movement, 343 

Trades Political Union, 264 

Trades-Unionism, 314 

Tuam, archbishop of, joins the 
Repeal agitation, 322 



U 



Ulster called the" Black North," 
207 

Union, Act of, 18 ; petition for 
repeal of, 23, 26 ; baneful 
e f f e c ts o f , 3 1 ; r e p e a I of , 



Index. 



393 



broached by O'Connell (1827), 
187 ; significance of, igo ; 
agitation for the repeal of the, 
241, 282, 2go 
United Irishmen, 12 



Veto, the, 30, 50 
Victoria, Queen, O'Connell's 
enthusiasm for, 311 

W 

Waterford, county of, represen- 
tation of, 172, 17S 

Waterford, Marquis of (Henry 
Beresford), creates forty-shil- 
ling freeholders, 170 ; opposi- 
tion to, 172 ; distressed at the 
defection of his tenants, 179 
Weekly Register, organ of the 
Catholic Association, 193 

Wellesley, Marquis of, lord 
lieutenant of Ireland, iig ; 
Orange insult to, 126 ; expres- 
sion of public sympathy with, 
127 ; his manner of adminis- 
trating the laws, 148 ; lord 
lieutenant a second time, 286 

Wellesley - Pole, William (Earl 



of Mornington) chief sec- 
retary for Ireland, his circular 
letter, 36 
Wellington, Duke of, view of 
the Catholic question, 145, 
188 ; his administration, 191, 
197 ; disinclined to concede 
Emancipation, 217 ; letter to 
the archbishop of Armagh, 
218 ; resignation of, 246 ; ex- 
pects a civil war, 352 
Westmoreland, Earl of, govern- 
ment of, 69 
Wharncliffe, Lord, his appeal to 

the House of Lords, 361 
Whiteboyism, revival of, 269, 274 
William IV., death of, 311 
"Wings," the. Bills for dis- 
franchising the foiity - shilling 
freeholders and endowing the 
Catholic clergy so called, 168 
"Witchery" resolutions, 43 
Wyse, Thomas, historian of the 
Catholic Association, 194 



York, Duke of, "No Popery" 

speech of the, 159 
Young Ireland, 343, 353, 365, 373 




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NORWAY. Hjalmar H. Boyesen. 
SPAIN. Rev. E. E. and Susan Hale. 
HUNGARY. Prof. A. Vdmbery. 
CARTHAGE. Prof. Alfred J. Church. 
THE SARACENS. Arthur Gilman. 
THE MOORS IN SPAIN. Stanley 

Lane-Poole. 
THE NORMANS. Sarah OrneJewett. 
PERSIA. S. G. W^. Benjamin. 
ANCIENT EGYPT. Prof. Geo. Raw- 

linson. 
ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE. Prof. J. 

P. Mahaffy. 
ASSYRIA. Z. A. Ragozin. 
THE GOTHS. Henry Bradley. 
IRELAND. Hon. Emily Lawless. 
TURKEY. Stanley Lane-Poole. 
MEDIA, BABYLON, AND PERSIA. 

Z. A. Ragozin. 
MEDIEVAL FRANCE. Prof. Gus- 

tave Masson. 
HOLLAND. Prof. J. Thorold Rogers. 
MEXICO. Susan Hale. 
PHCENICIA. Geo. Rawlinson, 
THE HANSA TOWNS. Helen Zim- 

mern. 
EARLY BRITAIN. Prof. Alfred J. 

Church. 
THE BARBARY CORSAIRS. Stan- 
ley Lane-Pool. 
RUSSIA. W. R. Morfill. 
THE JEWS UNDER ROME. W. D. 

Morrison. 
SCOTLAND. John Mackintosh. 
SWITZERLAND. R. Stead and Mrs. 

A. Hug. 
PORTUGAL. H.Morse-Stephens. 
THE BYZANTINEEMPIRE. C. W. 

C. Oman. 
SICILY. E. A. Freeman. 
THE TUSCAN REPUBLICS. Bella 

Duffy. 
POLAND. 
PARTHIA. 



W. R. Morfill. 
Geo. Rawlinson. 



JAPAN. David Murray. 

THE CHRISTIAN RECOVERY OF 

SPAIN. H. E. Watts. 
AUSTRALASIA. Greville Tregar- 

then. 
SOUTHERN AFRICA. Geo. Mc 

Theal. 
VENICE. AletheaWiel. 
THE CRUSADES. T. S. Archer and 

C. L. Kingsford. 
VEDIC INDIA. Z. A. Ragozin. 
BOHEMIA. C. E. Maurice. 
CANADA. J. G. Bourinot. 
THE BALKAN STATES. William 

Miller. 
BRITISH RULE IN INDIA. R. W. 

Frazer. 
MODERN FRANCE. Andr6 LeBon. 
THE BUILDINGOF THE BRITISH 

EMPIRE. Alfred T. Story. Two 

vols. 
THE FRANKS. Lewis Sergeant. 
THE WEST INDIES. Amos K. 

Fiske. 
THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND IN 

THE 19TH CENTURY. Justin 

McCarthy, M.P. Two vols. 
AUSTRIA, THE HOME OF THE 

HAPSBURG DYNASTY, FROM 

1282 TO THE PRESENT DAY. 

Sidney W^hitman. 
CHINA. Robt. K. Douglass. 
MODERN SPAIN. Major Martin Ac 

S. Hume. 
MODERN ITALY. Pietro Orsi. 

Other volumes in preparation are : 

THE UNITED STATES, 1775 1897. 

Prof. A. C. McLaughlin. Two 

vols. 
BUDDHIST INDIA. Prof. T. W. 

Rhys-Davids. 
MOHAMMEDAN INDIA. Stanley 

Lane-Poole. 
THE THIRTEEN COLONIES 

Helen A. Smith. 
WALES AND CORNWALL. Owes 

M. EdwardSo 



c^ -^^'^^^d 



